Eli Davies, 16, from Williams Lake helped Team BC bring home the gold at the Female Junior Women Lacrosse Nationals in Calgary this week.
In the final game Saturday, the team beat Ontario five to three.
“The final game was really back and forth,” Eli said Monday. “No one had a full lead. Then our captain scored on an empty net in the last 10 or 20 seconds of the game.”
Team BC won their first game on Tuesday morning against last year’s gold medalists, team Ontario.
With a slow start and a three to one deficit at the end of the first, Team BC came back with a 10 to five final score.
They played game two and three Wednesday against Alberta and Nova Scotia, beating Alberta eight to five, and Nova Scotia nine to four.
The round robin continued Thursday against Ontario, where Team BC won, beating Ontario nine to three.
On Friday they played two games, beating Alberta 11 to five, and Nova Scotia, six to two.
The team consists of girls from 16-21 years of age. Eli is one of the five players under 18 years of age.
“It has been an unbelievable experience playing with the older girls,” Eli said. “I learned a lot for sure.”
Eli played with the local Bighorns association for five years before aging out last year.
“With only midget available to players in Williams Lake, she has travelled to the lower mainland to play with female teams to continue her love for the game of lacrosse,” her mom Joanne Davies said.
Eli loves everything about the sport and said it is so much fun to play because it’s anybody’s game.
Last year she played with Team BC, where at the nationals they garnered the bronze.
This year’s win she credited to the team’s good and unreal coaches. After being selected at tryouts in the spring, Eli travelled to practice for six weeks in the Lower Mainland.
She is going into Grade 12 at Lake City Secondary School and also plays on the Williams Lake Minor Hockey Girls Rep team.