Mia & Alisa in Lower Sixth had the incredible opportunity to represent Ireland & Israel for Lacrosse in the 2025 Heritage Cup, held in Boston, USA.

Written by Mia C, Lower Sixth.

Over May half term, I had the incredible opportunity to represent Ireland in the 2025 Heritage Cup, held in Boston, USA. The tournament brought together 32 national lacrosse teams from around the world for a three-day celebration of international sport and culture.

We played three intense group matches, starting strong with victories against the Netherlands, Columbia, and Armenia, before facing Wales in the semi-final- featuring none other than my coach, Miss Williams! In a highly competitive game, we narrowly lost by just one goal to Wales who went on to play in the final. We bounced back to take on Israel in the third-place play-off, securing a convincing win to finish 3rd overall in the tournament- a fantastic result for the team and a proud moment for us all.

As the youngest player on the team, I learnt so much from my teammates, both on and off the pitch and the experience was inspiring. It was an unforgettable few days- wearing the Irish jersey, competing against top national teams, and growing as both a player and a person. I hope it’s just the beginning of many opportunities to come with Ireland.

Written by Alisa B, Upper Fourth.

Traveling to Boston for the first time to play for Israel Lacrosse was an unforgettable experience. When I landed in Boston me and my dad drove to the Gillette stadium for the Israel meet and the Shabbat dinner. Before the dinner, we had the chance to watch some lacrosse games. During dinner, the head girl and head boy of Israel lacrosse said some prayers and then they played a video of how Israel lacrosse began.

On the first match day, my team went to breakfast and afterwards we got our team jersey’s and more sports kits. It was finally time for our first game, and I was so exited to play with a completely new team. Our first game was against Puerto Rico, which we only lost by a few points. Since we were all new to playing with each other and working as a team it took us some time to find our feet. Our next game we played Greece, by that time, we were already more confident playing together, but sadly another close loss. We finished the day by watching the rest of the games.

The next day after breakfast, we headed to the Gillette stadium to watch the woman NCAA final four, it was North Carolina playing against North Western and north Carolina won. It was very interesting and fun to watch professional teams play because it was a chance for us to learn and improve our own skills. When we came back we played against France and watched a bit of the other Israeli teams’ games. 

On the last day we had two games against Portugal and Latin America, we lost against Portugal and won Latin America. 

Overall, it was probably the best sport experience I’ve ever done, it was incredibly fun meeting new people from all over USA and playing with them.