Hong Kong dreams go on the line as Aussie U20 squad set to take on New Zealand and Kyushu to kickstart 2024

The aspirations of thirty of Australia’s finest U20 Women’s lacrosse players goes on the line this week when our Australian U20 squad undergoes its final test at this week’s Lacrosse Australia Southern Crosse Tournament in Melbourne.

Head Coach Meghan Mollison and her thirty squad members will split into Australia Green and Gold squads and will take on the visiting U20 New Zealand program - who find themselves at the same stage of selection and will also split into New Zealand Black & New Zealand White – as well as a visiting U20 side from Kyushu, Japan.

From an Australian perspective, this will be the last chance the squad will have to impress Head Coach Meghan Mollison and her coaching staff with the coaches immediately going to into deliberations with the view to announcing the 18 Australian women who will look to improve on the Bronze medal Australia won at the 2019 U19 World Championship.

Head Coach Meghan Mollison outlined the plans for her squad heading into the Tournament.

Obviously our focus as a coaching staff will be to finalise our selections for Hong Kong, however as a squad we really want out women to continue to create and grow friendships, both within our squad and with out international visitors whilst also continuing to provide opportunities for the growth and development of the 30 individuals so that they can be the best lacrosse players and people they can be. I have no doubt there will be some nerves going into final selection but I am sure the squad will continue to show the fantastic camaraderie they have show do date and will support each other.

The caliber of teams on show this week will be sure to put our Australia squad through its paces with New Zealand continuing to develop into an international contender whilst Japan always bring a unique style which will give the coaches a chance to the Australian against a different style of play.

I know we can expect a very physical contest against New Zealand. Our squad has gotten to play against most of these players over the years in national tournaments but with New Zealand coming together we know we will need to contend with their physical style and quick midfield game. In Japan, we are expect the fast, dynamic and unsettled style of game that that is the signature of Japanese lacrosse. Overall, we expect we will need to adapt to 2 very different styles of lacrosse, whilst maintaining our own style of play. It will be a great challenge.

The five teams will be participating in the annual Lacrosse Australia Southern Crosse Tournament which this year will be held at Paisley Park in Altona North, Melbourne, the home of the Altona and Newport Ladies Lacrosse Clubs. The Tournament will run for 5 days starting 3 January 2023 with pool play to take place on 3, 4 and 5 January before the finals which start on 5 January, with the semi finals on 6 January and the Finals on the morning of 7 January. With the stakes as high as ever, expect an incredibly high level of lacrosse.

Entry is free so if you are looking for some highly entertaining lacrosse to kickstart your 2024, head down to Paisley Park.