Tufts Junior Kaitlyn Leidl Selected to Irish National Women's Lacrosse Team

MEDFORD - For the second time in her lacrosse career, Tufts junior Kaitlyn Leidl (Califon, NJ) has been named to Ireland's National Women's Lacrosse Team.

Studying abroad in Barcelona last semester, Leidl traveled to Dublin, Ireland in October for the three-day try-out, which included scrimmaging, drills and a fitness test. She found out that she made the team in an email from the coach on Thanksgiving, though the squad was announced on January 17.

"The whole try-out went pretty well," Leidl said. "I was a bit rusty from being in Barcelona where I wasn't really able to play lacrosse, but it was so good to be back on the field."

Leidl was on Ireland's first-ever women's team in 2008 when she was a junior in high school. She participated in the European Championship as the youngest player in the tournament and the team came in an impressive fourth out of 10 teams overall.

Her brother, Dan, who was an assistant coach at Tufts in the 1990s, has been involved with the Irish Lacrosse Foundation for a long time and has played for the men's team in many world tournaments.

Since 2008 was the first women's team that represented Ireland, the organization was more lenient with the heritage requirements. According to Leidl, lacrosse was not very big yet in Ireland, so half the team consisted of Americans who had Irish backgrounds, but not necessarily citizenship. They recently changed the rules however, and now to be on the team a player must be at least a dual citizen of Ireland. Leidl has dual citizenship because her grandmother was born in Ireland. Many members of the current team reside in Ireland.

As a member of the 2012 team, she'll be participating in the European Championship in Amsterdam at the end of June. The Ireland-based players on the National Team are playing in some other small tournaments and exhibition games throughout Europe as well, but Leidl won't be able to play because of the Tufts season.

"I'm just extremely excited about this opportunity," she said. "When I made the team in high school, I got to play in Finland against all different European nations. It was the most incredible experience to represent a whole country playing the sport I love. I'm also very excited to be playing with the Irish girls because lacrosse is relatively new to them and it's amazing to see how quickly they've mastered the sport in such a short amount of time. They're all so driven and dedicated to making lacrosse a true international sport. To be a part of this mission and initiative is a truly unique and thrilling opportunity."

Leidl also has an exciting Tufts season to look forward to. Almost everyone is back from last year's team which fell one goal shy of advancing to the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) championship game. Leidl scored eight goals with nine assists for 17 points in 19 games for Coach Carol Rappoli's Jumbos last spring.

Irish Lacrosse Foundation Website

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