Nine young lacrosse stars from Guelph on their way to national championships

Girls lacrosse is booming in Guelph and the program’s success is paying off nationally.

Nine players from the Guelph Minor Lacrosse Association (GMLA) have been selected for Team Ontario to compete in the national championships next month in Regina, SK and Winnipeg, MB.

Of the nine, who come from different age categories, six are girls.

April Ziegler and Sydney Young will be part of the U19 girls lacrosse team in Winnipeg from August 2-5.

Henley Dorland and Katie Snyder are both on the U13 girls box lacrosse team, Daylin Jones competes on the U15 girls box team and Gracin Jones is on the U17 girls box team.

The three participating boys are Brayden McGarr (U15 boys box), Kolby McQueen (U15 boys field) and Cannon Schmidt (U17 boys box).

All box lacrosse championships will be held in Regina from August 10-17. This summer and fall, the men’s and women’s teams will compete across North America.

National championships are nothing new for Gracin Jones, but she relishes every opportunity.

“Meeting the people I played with is probably the best part, and having these memories with them,” she said.

Gracin’s involvement helped her sister Daylin follow suit, and she has now been playing for 11 years, improving her game along the way

“I feel like it’s grown just from my confidence with the ball or on defense, like (one-on-one) or something like that,” she said. “And my coaches have helped with that.”

Dorland, the local group’s only goalkeeper, said it means a lot to also represent her home team.

“I started last year (as a goalie),” she added. “I don’t know, I just thought before I even started lacrosse that I wanted to be a goalie.”

When asked if she bases her goalkeeping style on anyone else, she was quick to answer: Nick Rose of the NLL’s Toronto Rock.

Snyder, her teammate on the U13 team, received the call while she was at the vacation home with her girlfriend.

“I was jumping up and down on the deck,” she recalls.

“I thought, ‘I never made the team.’”

She sees herself more as a two-way player, rather than someone who plays more offense or defense.

“It really means a lot to me (to be mentioned by name) because this is the first time I’ve played for Team Ontario or tried out or anything like that,” Ziegler said.

In recent years, the girls have become part of a large movement, with participation at the local level increasing significantly.

Taylor Dorland, GMLA vice president of girls lacrosse, noted that the number of girls participating in the program has dropped from 47 last year to 73 this year.

At the provincial level, there were only four girls box lacrosse teams at the U13 level last year, he added. That number has grown to 11 for 2024.

“There are a lot of factors,” Dorland said of the growth at the local level.

“This was our third season where we really pushed, and we’ve always had an age group, kind of a cohort that has gone through the years, whether it was 2004 to (2006), that kind of complemented our older age group.

“But two years ago we hired a guy named Jeff Schneider to coach the U11 girls program. He brought in a lot of girls from hockey and friends. It’s kind of become a spider web of word of mouth and recruiting players from different sports and getting friends interested.”

He indicated that recruiting via social media also played a role, as did sending information earlier and spending time at ice rinks.

“The more girls are exposed to it, the more they immediately fall in love with it,” he said.

The sport of lacrosse has grown to the point that in four years it will be an Olympic sport. The women’s sport has also grown, both globally and locally.

The World Box Lacrosse Championship in Utica, New York, in September will include a women’s tournament for the first time.

“I think it’s something we’ve been waiting for for a long time,” Gracin Jones said. “Girls are finally getting the recognition they deserve in sports. I think this is just the beginning.”

“I really like it because it gives more opportunities and possibilities for girls to have the same opportunities as boys in lacrosse,” added her sister Daylin. “I think it helps everyone, especially the girls, to get somewhere with lacrosse.”

“I find it really inspiring,” Ziegler added. “I also think it’s grown tremendously, especially with the women’s field, it started off really small. I think it’s gradually growing now, it’s really good for the women’s field.”

Dorland said overall he is proud of all the boys and girls who have been added to Team Ontario.

“It’s a testament to the growth we’ve had since COVID,” he said.