Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively modified by European colonists, reducing the violence, to create its current collegiate and professional form.
USA Lacrosse is the national governing body of men and women's lacrosse in the United States. It provides a leadership role in virtually every aspect of the game and has more than 450,000 members throughout the United States, and offers programs and services to inspire participation while protecting the integrity of the sport. The USA Lacrosse national headquarters is located in Sparks, Maryland along with the Lacrosse Museum and National Hall of Fame. In addition, the headquarters campus features the IWLCA Building, Tierney Field and a memorial to the members of the lacrosse community that died in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. USA Lacrosse also oversees the U.S. National Teams, which have won a combined 30 world championships.
Field lacrosse is a full contact outdoor sport played with two opposing teams of ten players each. The sport originated among Native Americans, and the modern rules of field lacrosse were initially codified by Canadian William George Beers in 1867. Field lacrosse is one of three major versions of lacrosse played internationally. The rules of men's lacrosse differ significantly from women's field lacrosse. The two are often considered to be different sports with a common root. An outdoor six-a-side version, lacrosse sixes, was established in 2021 and features six players per team, reduced field size, and shorter duration to be conducive for daily tournament play. Another version, indoor box lacrosse, is also played under different rules.
The World Lacrosse Women's Championship (WLWC), formerly known as the Women's Lacrosse World Cup (WLWC), the international championship of women's lacrosse, is held every four years. From its inception in 1982, it was sponsored by the governing body for women's lacrosse, the International Federation of Women's Lacrosse Associations, until that body merged in 2008 with the former governing body for men's lacrosse. Since 2009, the WLWC has been sponsored by the sport's new unified governing body, the Federation of International Lacrosse. The 2017 Women's Lacrosse World Cup was held in Guildford, England, and was won by the United States over Canada by the score of 10-5.
Sports in Canada consist of a wide variety of games. The roots of organized sports in Canada date back to the 1770s, culminating in the development and popularization of the major professional games of ice hockey, lacrosse, basketball, baseball, soccer, football and cricket. Canada's official national sports are ice hockey and lacrosse. Golf, baseball, tennis, skiing, ringette, badminton, cricket, volleyball, cycling, swimming, bowling, rugby union, canoeing, curling, squash, and the study of martial arts are widely enjoyed at the youth and amateur levels. Great achievements in Canadian sports are recognized by Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, while the Lou Marsh Trophy is awarded annually to Canada's top athlete by a panel of journalists. There are numerous other Sports Halls of Fame in Canada.
The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as Wahoos or Hoos, are the athletic teams representing the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers compete at the NCAA Division I level, in the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1953. Known simply as Virginia or UVA in sports media, the athletics program has twice won the Capital One Cup for men's sports after leading the nation in overall athletic excellence in those years. The Cavaliers have regularly placed among the nation's Top 5 athletics programs.
Lacrosse in Australia is a minor sport, with a long and proud history dating back to 1876, with a small but dedicated community of participants and volunteers. The established centres for lacrosse are in the greater metropolitan areas of Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth. In these cities there are organised weekend field lacrosse competitions for men and women at senior and junior levels, played over the winter months. In the off-season, there are informal box lacrosse and sofcrosse competitions, though the majority of players in Australia are mostly of the field lacrosse type. Some lacrosse is also played in Sydney, South East Queensland, Canberra, Ballarat and Bendigo, it is very much at the developmental level.
The United States women's national softball team is the national softball team of the United States. It is governed by USA Softball and takes part in international softball competitions. The US team has been successful in international play, taking the gold medal in three straight Olympics and seven straight World championships. At the 2004 Olympics, the Americans held their opponents to only one run scored in 7 games. The lone run came in a 5–1 victory over the Australian team. However, the team then won the silver medals at the 2008 and 2020 Summer Olympics, both times narrowly losing to Japan.
College lacrosse is played by student-athletes at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. In both countries, men's field lacrosse and women's lacrosse are played at both the varsity and club levels. College lacrosse in Canada is sponsored by the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association (CUFLA) and Maritime University Field Lacrosse League (MUFLL), while in the United States, varsity men's and women's lacrosse is governed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). There are also university lacrosse programs in the United Kingdom sponsored by British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) and programs in Japan.
The Johns Hopkins Blue Jays are the 24 intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Johns Hopkins University, located in Baltimore, Maryland. They compete in the NCAA Division III, except for their lacrosse teams, which compete in Division I. They are primarily members of the Centennial Conference, while the men's and women's lacrosse teams compete in the Big Ten Conference. The team colors are Hopkins blue and black, and the blue jay is their mascot. Homewood Field is the home stadium.
Nicole Renee Barnhart is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Washington Spirit in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She previously played for FC Gold Pride and Philadelphia Independence in Women's Professional Soccer, and for the United States national team where she was a two-time Olympic gold medalist. She competed in qualifying matches for 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, 2011 Four Nations Tournament and 2011 Algarve Cup.
The Johns Hopkins Blue Jays men's lacrosse team represents Johns Hopkins University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college lacrosse. Since 2015, the Blue Jays have represented the Big Ten Conference.
World Lacrosse (WL), formerly the Federation of International Lacrosse, is the international governing body of lacrosse, responsible for the men's, women's, and indoor versions of the sport. It was established in 2008 by the merger of the previously separate men's and women's international lacrosse associations. Its headquarters are in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States.
Rebecca Elizabeth Sauerbrunn is an American professional soccer player for Portland Thorns FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the highest division of women's professional soccer in the United States. Since 2021, Sauerbrunn is the captain of the United States women's national soccer team. She previously captained Utah Royals FC and, from 2016 to 2018, co-captained the national team with Carli Lloyd.
Alyssa Michele Naeher is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for National Women's Soccer League club Chicago Red Stars and the United States Women's National Team. She was on the 23-player roster for the United States at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup and was the starting goalkeeper for the U.S. at the 2019 FIFA World Cup in France. She has also played for the Boston Breakers and Turbine Potsdam. With the Breakers, she won the 2014 NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year award.
England Lacrosse is the national governing body for lacrosse in England. The sport is managed through the Men's and Women's Playing Committees and the leagues administered by region: the South of England Men's Lacrosse Association (SEMLA), North of England Men's Lacrosse Association (NEMLA), South East Women's Lacrosse Association (SEWLA), South West Women's Lacrosse Association (SWWLA), and North Women's Lacrosse Association (NWLA). The England Lacrosse CEO is Mark Coups.
The Canadian men's national lacrosse team represents Canada in men's international lacrosse competitions. The team is governed by the Canadian Lacrosse Association, which is a member of World Lacrosse, the international governing body for lacrosse. Traditionally Canada has been one of the leading nations in international play, placing among the top three at the World Lacrosse Championship every year since the tournament's inaugural year in 1967. Canada has a long-standing rivalry with the United States national lacrosse team as they both frequently find themselves facing off against each other.
The United States men's national lacrosse team has won eleven of fourteen World Lacrosse Championships, the most recent in 2023. Team USA finished second in the other three field lacrosse tournaments, losing to Canada in 1978, 2006, and 2014.
Sports in Atlanta has a rich history, including the oldest on-campus NCAA Division I football stadium, Bobby Dodd Stadium, built in 1913 by the students of Georgia Tech. Atlanta also played host to the second intercollegiate football game in the South, played between the A&M College of Alabama and the University of Georgia in Piedmont Park in 1892; this game is now called the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry. The city hosts college football's annual Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and the Peachtree Road Race, the world's largest 10 km race. Atlanta was the host city for the Centennial 1996 Summer Olympics, and Downtown Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park was built for and commemorates the games.
The Australia women's national lacrosse team represents Australia at women's lacrosse. It is governed by Lacrosse Australia and is a full member of the World Lacrosse. They have won the Women's Lacrosse World Cup twice, in 1986 and 2005, and have been runners-up 4 times. They are currently ranked fourth in the world, finishing behind the United States, Canada and England at the 2017 FIL Women's Lacrosse World Cup, which was held in Guildford, Surrey, England, while also finishing third in the 2017 World Games women's lacrosse tournament, held in Wrocław, Poland, behind the United States and Canada, but ahead of Great Britain.
