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Headed Off To Ireland

Headed Off To Ireland

MVP International girls team will be part of lacrosse tournament in Limerick
By David Driver, MVP Communications

WASHINGTON – They are a group of girls from different high schools in Northern Virginia.

But there is at least one characteristic on the field that brings encouragement to their coaches as they head to Ireland on Thursday to represent MVP International, a leader in overseas sports youth travel.

“They are a great group of girls. They are multi-talented, they are not just (playing) one position,” says veteran lacrosse coach Tim Prosser. “We can play them at all three positions – offense, midfield and defense. It will just be awesome to see where we put them and how they will play with each other.”

 

A team of girls lacrosse players from MVP International will leave Virginia for Ireland on Thursday. Photo Courtesy of Tim Prosser

 

The team is made of mostly of rising high school juniors and will be in Ireland for nine days as part of the World Championships for 21U men. There will be teams from several countries, including another one from the USA from the Boston area, Prosser notes.

The MVP International squad, which is guaranteed to play at least six games, held two practice sessions last week at Robinson High School in Fairfax, Virginia. The team is made of girls from the ages of 15 to 18.

“They all pretty much know each other but it was nice to get them together to go over our strategy,” says Prosser, the head girls coach at Robinson.

He has been part of the program there for 10 years and was an assistant when the Rams won a Virginia title two years in a row.

The other MVP coach for the trip to Ireland is TJ Finnerty, the new coach at The Flint Hill School in Oakton, Virginia after a stint at Bishop O’Connell in Arlington, Virginia. He played in college at Washington & Lee in Virginia and is a former coach at W.T. Woodson High in Fairfax, Virginia. Both Finnerty and Prosser have been coaches with the Virginia One girls lacrosse program.

“TJ was the one that MVP connected with; we have known each other for a long time and he asked me if I wanted to come along and help coach,” Prosser notes.

Prosser was last in Europe in 2017 when he coached a girls lacrosse team at the World Games in London.

“I am just excited,” said Prosser, who grew up in the lacrosse hotbed of upstate New York. “I can’t believe lacrosse has taken me one time to London and now to Ireland.”

The MVP roster: middies Natalie Anderson and Madelyn Arca; attack Summer Eastman, Erin Soule, Ann Suddarth, Claire Varley, Mia Young, Julia Lundy, Emma Lundy, and Aslynn Maher; defenders Caleigh Jones and Ellen Suddarth; and goalies Bristol Sine and Hannah Smith.

MVP International staff who have been assisting on the trip include Matt Wojceichowski, an Event Coordinators; and Justin Counts, who returned last month as a coach for the MVP International baseball trip to central Europe. Counts also took a baseball team to The Netherlands with MVP a few years ago.

Away from the field, the MVP team in Ireland plans to visit the Cliffs of Moher, a walking tour of Dublin and a fancy meal at a castle.

But the major event will be the event in Limerick. MVP is working with Ireland native Anthony Neville, who lives in the Cork area of Ireland.

“There will be a lacrosse festival there simultaneously with our trip,” said Counts, who played baseball at George Marshall High and the University of Virginia.

“We touched base with Anthony and asked what we could put together with this tournament. That is what Anthony; he helped put together this tour along with the tournament.”

The MVP squad will compete at the 18U level and return August 20.

“They have an open division in that age category,” notes Counts, who studied civil engineering in college and is a project manager for MVP trips. “I know they will be playing some teams from Ireland and other places.”

Editor’s note: David Driver is the former sports editor of papers in Arlington and Harrisonburg in Virginia; he was in Ireland on March and interviewed American basketball players. His book “Hoop Dreams In Europe: Americans Building Basketball Careers In Europe,” was published in March and is available on Amazon.

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