Women's Lacrosse: Ellis '13 and Israelis make statement at World Cup

At the 2013 Women’s Lacrosse World Cup, the members of Team Israel made headlines when they stepped on the field—and when they didn’t.

“I think people were taken aback,” said Sam Ellis ’13, a former Princeton attacker who played for the Israelis. “We definitely made a name for ourselves.”

The team, an even mix of Israeli natives and players from the United States with Israeli heritage, made it clear that despite its lack of experience—this was its first ever World Cup appearance—it would play on its own terms.

After a successful tryout and interview—coaches wanted to make sure that the players would connect well on and off the field since they would only have a week to train together in Israel—Ellis’ next step was to acquire Israeli citizenship.The non-Israeli players had religious and family connections to Israel and were thus eligible for citizenship. For Ellis, whose grandparents were Holocaust survivors who met in a Nazi concentration camp, becoming an Israeli citizen was a profound experience.

“Becoming a dual citizen was something I was very proud to do,” she said. “I’m very happy I can call myself Israeli.”

“The same thing goes for a lot of the other girls,” she added. “Everyone has a deeper respect and appreciation for the country.”

Aside from doing well in the World Cup, the team aimed to get Israeli girls interested in lacrosse.

“Lacrosse isn’t a very prominent sport in Israel,” Ellis said. “In fact, it’s not popular at all.”

Ellis said she was confident that her team’s work with Israeli girls would bring about an increased interest in lacrosse within the country. What the team did once it got to the World Cup in Oshawa, Canada, however, may have had an even bigger impact on how Israelis view the sport.

Once in Canada, the Israelis began surprising people. They clinched a playoff spot easily, going 4-1 in the first round, with their one loss coming by a single goal in overtime to Japan. Seeded 10th in the playoff round, Israel then upset No. 7 New Zealand to reach the quarterfinals. Ellis had a goal and two assists in the 12-9 win.

To the surprise of some, Israel was two days away from the championship. The championship wason Saturday, however, and the team had a policy of not playing on the Sabbath.

“I’ve played gameson Saturdayin college,” Ellis said. “But when you represent a country it stands for so much more.”

Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Although many of the players did not have personal objections to playing on the Sabbath, they agreed that respecting their country’s customs was more important than the World Cup.

Ellis said she agreed with the decision partially because of the effects of her time in Israel.

“When I got to Israel and we were staying there, you just see everything shut downon Fridayafternoon,” she said. “It was not a religious thing, [not] playing on Shabbat; it was a cultural thing. It’s a move that I was very proud to stand up for in the World Cup.”

The team made the decision to forfeit any potentialSaturdaymatch before its loss to No. 2 Canada put it out of championship contention. After a close loss to No. 11 Scotland the next day, it forfeited its final match of the World Cup to the No. 8 Haudenosaunee Nation, giving up its chance of being ranked seventh in the world and settling for eighth.

Ellis says that the reaction to the team’s decision has been overwhelmingly positive, giving many Israelis a favorable view of the sport and giving the international community a more favorable view of Israel.

“There was a lead article on the front page of the Toronto Star while we were in Canada, talking about how we were protesting playing on Shabbat,” Ellis said. “We got a lot of remarks on it, saying this was the most positive press Israel has received in this paper in three years.”

Ellis finished the tournament with four goals, five assists, Israeli citizenship and confidence that she had furthered the cause of lacrosse in Israel.

“We wanted to show that lacrosse has a chance to be a sport [there],” she said. “It’s good for us, and it’s good for lacrosse in the country.”