Dec. 9, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Former University of Notre Dame women’s lacrosse standout Jillian Byers (Northport, N.Y.) has been named to the U.S. women’s national senior team roster for the Champion Challenge taking place Jan. 27-29 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Florida. The ’09 Notre Dame graduate represents one of 38 members named to the women’s roster.
The festivities, which are being put on by US Lacrosse for the seventh consecutive year, see the women’s national senior team take on the English women’s national team on Jan. 27. The squad then turns its attention to the top-two finishing collegiate women’s lacrosse teams from the ’11 NCAA Championship, as they play Maryland (Jan. 28) before taking on Northwestern (Jan. 29) on the final day of competition.
Byers, who now serves as an assistant coach for the Yale women’s lacrosse team, finished her Irish career with the most goals (262) and points (336) in program history. Over her four-year stint in an Irish uniform, Byers won BIG EAST Attack Player of the Year in ’09 while also earning a Tewaaraton Trophy nomination (awarded to the NCAA men’s and women’s player of the year) in both ’08 and ’09 and qualifying as a finalist for the games most prestigious award in ’09.
This event will serve as the final training opportunity for the 38-player roster, led by Georgetown women’s lacrosse head coach Ricky Fried, before the roster is trimmed to 24 in preparation for a summer competition tour in Oshawa, Canada, host of the 2013 World Cup.
Additionally, the event will feature National Team Player Clinics for youth players in grades 3-12 (Jan. 28) hosted by both the men’s and women’s national teams. The women’s team coaching staff also will offer a clinic for local coaches to learn “The Team USA Way.”
For more information about the Champion Challenge as well as a glimpse at the full Team USA rosters, please visit www.uslacrosse.org/ChampionChallenge.
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