Long Island's Yellow Jackets Look to Three-Peat at US Lacrosse U15 Nationals


Jul 17 2012 (Youth1.com) – It’s the tournament everyone’s been waiting for all summer! The most elite lacrosse teams in the country come together on July 24th-26th to compete for the 2012 US Lacrosse U15 National Championship in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The fourth annual event, powered by Lacrosse Unlimited, is US Lacrosse’s signature youth tournament of the year, as the top 25 girls lacrosse programs in the nation go head-to-head.
 
The girls representing their teams work all summer long to land a spot at Nationals, but winning a bid to this tourney is no easy feat. The only way to receive an automatic invitation is to be a US Lacrosse Regional Championship winner, runner-up, or semi-finalist, or to be a 2011 semifinalist and sportsmanship award winner from last year’s National Championship. Other teams were selected to play through an extensive application process.
 
A task that’s harder to tackle is winning the entire tournament, but even more unimaginable is completing that feat twice. The Yellow Jackets from Long Island, however, pulled off this accomplishment in 2010 and 2011 and will look to capture their third straight championship to continue their rich tradition of excellence.
 
Known to many as the premier lacrosse club on Long Island, the Yellow Jackets have sent over 500 of their players to play Division I Lacrosse and have had 209 US Lacrosse All-Americans, eight members of the U-19 Women’s National Team, and three Tewaaraton Award Winners. Even in this year’s Women’s Division I National Championship of Northwestern vs. Syracuse there were 12 Yellow Jacket alumni playing in the big game, including 2011 Tewaaraton Award Winner Shannon Smith from West Babylon, New [lacrosse].
 
This year, they already have 1st place finishes at tournaments like Lax by the Sea and the National Draw, building an impressive résumé that will be hard to beat. So, who could contend against the Yellow Jackets for the national title? It could quite possibly be one of the three teams to win their respective Regional Championships.
 
Indeed, the tournament will feature the 2012 US Lacrosse West Regional Champion Nor Cal Elite Green from California, the Central Regional Champion Coyotes Fusion from Colorado, and the Southeast Regional Champion Stickbenders from Florida. Also taking part in the event will be Regional Semi-Finalists like Arizona Desert Heat, Triple Threat National, Lonestar Lacrosse, Eagle Stix Atlanta and Lightning Lacrosse.
 
Sure to be one of the most exciting events of the season, the action will open up with pool play on Tuesday, July 24th from 9 A.M.–3 P.M. and after that, teams will be seeded upon their results and placed into a single-elimination bracket to ultimately determine the National Champion.
 
The following are the 2012 US Lacrosse U15 National Championship participating teams…
 
Be More Lax (MD), Cardinal (VA), Coast2Coast NorCal (CA), Connecticut Dodgers (CT), Coyotes Fusion (CO), Desert Heat (AZ), Eagle Stix Atlanta (GA), Houston (TX), Lax Maniax (FL), Lightning (GA), Lonestar (TX), Long Island Liberty (NY), Long Island Top Guns (NY), NorCal Elite Blue (CA), NorCal Elite Green (CA), North Carolina (NC), Pacific Falcons Blue (CA), Sky Walkers 2015 Blue (MD), Stickbenders (FL), Top of the Bay (MD), Triple Threat Nation (CA), Utah (UT), Washington State (WA), Yellow Jackets Team 1 (NY), Yellow Jackets Team 2 (NY)
 
 
 
 
Written by: Kaitlyn Lipkin
Sports Manager: Dan Lio