Hill School, Scotland U19 national team share experiences, exhibition match

POTTSTOWN >> For Hill School girls lacrosse coach Marcela Gaitan, Thursday’s final score was the least of her concerns.

For the record, the Blues’ friendly against Scotland’s U19 women’s squad ended with Hill on top, 13-12. But far more important was the experience for both sides, and the opportunity for Gaitan’s Hill program to make its mark on the global growth of the women’s game.

Gaitan was instrumental in arranging the friendly with the Scottish squad, which took on multiple American teams in a weeklong trip to North America, as the Scots gear up for the Federation of International Lacrosse’s U19 World Cup, to be held this August in Peterborough, Ontario.

“This was about the experience, and creating an environment for both programs to be challenged and improve,” Gaitan said. “None of this goes on the stat books, it doesn’t count toward our record — it’s a great experience, both culturally as well as the opportunity to play under international rules.”

The game was played using the rules that will be in place in Peterborough this August: 10 players to a side, and four 15-minute quarters rather than the two 25-minute halves used in high school lacrosse.

“It was fun to play with the international rules,” said Hill senior Tatumn Eccleston. “Different number of players, different clock — it made for a fun experience.

“Lacrosse is the fastest growing sport here in the U.S., so it’s interesting to talk to the Scottish players and learn about their stories, their experiences.”

This may be Gaitan’s first-year as Hill’s head coach, but she’s been around the game as a player and coach for some time, most recently at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minn. While coaching at Hill, she also serves as the United States liaison for the nation of Colombia’s lacrosse program for women. Gaitan was part of a January 2015 clinic that marked the first time U.S. women’s players and representatives traveled to Colombia for clinics in an effort to grow the game globally.

Gaitan served as an assistant coach for the U19 Colombian team in 2015, and more recently, competed as one of Colombia’s two ‘heritage’ players (a non-native of the country with family ties to the nation) in the 2017 Women’s Lacrosse World Cup held in Guildford, England. Gaitan is half Colombian, her father born and raised in the country. She travels about twice a year to visit family in the South American nation.

So it was Gaitan who reached out to Scotland U19 head coach Jessie Basch to coordinate Thursday’s game, bringing the Scottish squad to Pottstown to play a game at the Hill, followed by a sit-down dinner at the school’s dining hall.

Originally from Indiana, Basch graduated from Eastern University in Radnor, which is why she targeted the Philadelphia area for the Scottish team’s trip to the states. Before Thursday’s game with Hill, the Scottish squad took on Episcopal Academy and The College of New Jersey earlier this week.

“The players from both sides get to know one another off the field,” explained Gaitan, “but with the spirit of the game in mind. They’re making friends, building connections with their love of lacrosse as a common factor.”

Abstractly, it may seem strange that a small private school in Pottstown can compete with — and beat — a team of players representing an entire nation. The answer is what Gaitan hopes will become the enduring message of this experience for her players.

International women’s lacrosse competitions are largely dominated by the United States. The women’s World Cup started in 1982 and has been held on a quadrennial basis since. Of the ten competitions held to date, the United States has claimed the gold medal eight times. (Interestingly, the first time the U.S. didn’t take gold was in 1986, when Australia topped the Americans, 10-7, in Philadelphia.)

At the U19 level, the Canadians broke a 16-year U.S. stranglehold on the gold medal in 2015, taking top honors at the event held in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The level of competition varies to such a degree that although 22 nations are currently qualified for this summer’s U19 World Cup, only a select few have the opportunity to compete for gold, due to the wide disparity in experience and overall levels of competition. The remaining nations play in separate brackets against countries of similar ability, with the hopes of qualifying for the gold bracket in future events.

For the Scotland U19 squad, Thursday was another opportunity to get accustomed to the North American style of play they’ll have to overcome in August if they advance to compete with the highly ranked Americans and Canadians. Canada and the U.S. are ranked 1-2, respectively, as a result of their finishes at the most recent U19 World Cup. Scotland sits at No. 8.

But when the Scottish team returns home Saturday, they won’t see one another as a complete squad again until another training session in June. In fact, the team won’t even travel to Canada together for the World Cup — they’ll meet in Ontario a few days before the opening ceremonies.

“Our players go to boarding schools all over the United Kingdom, so we’re very limited in terms of the amount of time we get to spend playing together,” explained Basch. “Part of this week was about playing against a level of competition we don’t see very often, but the other part was about creating an experience for these players.”

For the Hill players, the game served as an opportunity to test their skills against a team representing the best Scotland has to offer — while hopefully gaining an appreciation for the opportunities available here at home.

“I want our players to realize how valuable their ability is to grow and develop in the sport of lacrosse here in the United States,” said Gaitan. “This level of accessibility — training, coaching, field space, equipment — all of these things are huge challenges and hurdles in countries where lacrosse is not a primary sport.

“Making connections with these athletes, I hope, will broaden their perspective in a lacrosse mindset specifically. Hopefully, some of our players will be inspired to give back to the game internationally, and continue to grow the sport at a higher level.”