Women’s Lacrosse in Finland

Women in Finland have taken up lacrosse sticks as well. The national team features a number of players, including foreign-born players and they too have played in several tournaments at the international level. Women have been playing lacrosse in Finland since 2001, not long after the men got started.

In 2004 a women’s team played in the Berlin Open tournament, as a completely Finnish team. They played as the Helsinki Lacrosse Club and it marked the fourth year in a row that Finnish players participated in the Berlin open.

This year has been a development year for the Finnish team and for the sport of lacrosse for women in Finland as a whole. Suzie Mills who lives in Jyväskylä says that the women from Jyväskylä and Helsinki often join forces and play as a team when they go abroad. A recent article in Keski Suomalainen brought out some new women players in Jyväskylä. Some of them made the trip down for the lacrosse “clinic” held on the first weekend of September, which included more than 10 women players.

A group of women representing Finland played at the European Newcomer’s Tournament in Copenhagen, Denmark from September 22-25. Ireland took the gold, Denmark the silver and Finland the bronze medal. Finnish national team player, Kiti Ovaskainen scored 20 goals over the course of the tournament.

2006 brings new challenges and hopefully more players to the women’s game in Finland.

For more information on women’s lacrosse in Finland contact the following:

For all of Finland: Antti Salomaa, antti.salomaa@lacrosse.fi, www.lacrosse.fi and Kiti Ovaskainen, kiti.ovaskainen@lacrosse.fi
Helsinki Lacrosse Club: Kiti Ovaskainen, kiti.ovaskainen@lacrosse.fi, www.helsinkilacrosse.tk
Turku Titans Lacrosse: Päivi Huhtanen, paivi.huhtanen1@luukku.com, www.turkutitans.tk
Jyväskylä Lacrosse: Suzie Mills, mills@cc.jyu.fi

Carmen Boudreau-Kiviaho