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Superb Summer For Suddarth
by Brad | September 5, 2022

Superb Summer For Suddarth

Lake Braddock High student had memorable trip to Ireland for lacrosse
By David Driver, MVP Communications

WASHINGTON – Ellie Suddarth is immersed in a lacrosse family.

Her father played the sport in high school and college and her four siblings also play lacrosse.

But until last month, the junior at Lake Braddock High School in Virginia and never been out of the country – let alone represent the USA in a lacrosse festival in Ireland.

She was able to do that as MVP International, a leader in overseas sports travel for youth, went 9-0 and won its division in girls’ lacrosse at a festival in Limerick. That event was held in conjunction with the 21U world championships for men, which was won by the U.S. national team.

“It was such a fun experience, especially exploring Ireland with my team,” says Suddarth, a defender. “It was such fun; it was also fun to meet the men’s team.”

 

 

But outside of playing lacrosse, the MVP team did a lot away from the field – a walking tour of Dublin, visiting the Cliffs of Moher, watching some of the Gaelic Games, taking in a castle and much more in Dublin, Limerick, and points in between.

“I thought the sightseeing was so much fun,” Suddarth says. “It wasn’t like we were just there for lacrosse. We were having so much fun; we were like we forgot we came for lacrosse.”

“I think of all of the memories made and the inside jokes we have,” she adds. “It was just a lot of fun; everywhere we went, something (memorable) happened.”

The MVP International team was able to try their hand at traditional Irish games.

“The games were so much fun to learn; we were terrible at it,” says Suddarth, with a laugh.

On the field, the team of players from five high schools in Northern Virginia was challenged while playing some Irish squads with older players.

And the Americans had to adjust to some new rules.

She said in Ireland, they are stricter on having players keep mouthguards in their mouths. There were nine field players per squad in Ireland, as opposed to 11.

“We had to learn as we went along. It was cool to come back and say, ‘Yes, I did this differently in Ireland.’ It was fun to be able to pick new things up for our first game,” she says.

Suddarth comes from an athletic family.

Her mother, Bernice, played basketball at West Springfield High in Virginia and at Division III Mary Washington, in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Her father, Andy, was a lacrosse player at Annandale High and also at Mary Washington.

The four younger siblings of Subbarth all play lacrosse.

Her sister, Ann, plays attack and was also on the trip to Ireland. She is a freshman at Lake Braddock.

Since their parents were on vacation last month, the grandparents of Ann and Ellie joined them on the trip to Ireland.

“They had been to Ireland once before and really loved the country,” Ellie Suddarth said.

Her grandparents have also been to Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic, Australia, Hungary, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and England. Her grandfather has Irish roots but was born in the United States.

Ellie Suddarth was glad to see Ireland up close. “I had heard they were all friendly people and they were,” she says.

Other members of the MVP International team included middies Natalie Anderson and Madelyn Arca; attack Summer Eastman, Erin Soule, Claire Varley, Mia Young, Julia Lundy, Emma Lundy, and Ashlynn Maher; defender Caleigh Jones; and goalies Bristol Sine and Hannah Smith.

They represent these Northern Virginia high schools: Lake Braddock (five players), Robinson (four), Bishop O’Connell (three) in Arlington, and one each from West Springfield and W.T. Woodson, both in Fairfax County.

Coaches for the MVP International team were Tim Prosser, the coach of the girls’ team at Robinson High in Fairfax, Virginia, and TJ Finnerty, the new girls’ lacrosse coach at the Flint High School in Oakton, Virginia. Both are coaches with Virginia One Girls Lacrosse in which nearly every MVP player from the Ireland trip is involved.

Much of the legwork before the trip was done by Anthony Neville, who is from the Cork area of Ireland and has been involved in lacrosse and hosting trips for several years.

“The trip was phenomenal. The girls went 9-0 in the Lacrosse Festival and won the Championship! While we were there, we were able to see the Cliff of Moher, do a walking tour of Dublin and Limerick, participate in a Gaelic games experience and we got to see the U21 USA Lacrosse team win the Gold Medal at the World Lacrosse Championships,” said Matt Wojciechowski, the Regional Enrollment Coordinator for MVP International.

Editor’s note: David Driver is the former sports editor of papers in Arlington and Harrisonburg in Virginia and worked for papers in Burke and Springfield; he was in Ireland in March and interviewed American basketball players and met with Neville. His book “Hoop Dreams In Europe: Americans Building Basketball Careers In Europe,” was published in March and is available on Amazon and at his website – www.daytondavid.com.

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