Israel Women's National Lacrosse Team

The team combines international competition with efforts to develop women's lacrosse inside Israel. It has appeared in European championships and in the Sixes tournament at the World Games.[2][5] Its bronze medal at the 2026 Women's Field Lacrosse World Championship marked its first appearance on a world-championship podium.[4]

National-team players have also worked in youth coaching and recruiting programs, linking the senior side to the domestic development of the sport.[2]

The Israel Lacrosse Association, the governing body for the sport in Israel, was established in 2010 and developed an eight-city domestic league with a budget exceeding $4.8 million.[1] National youth participation was estimated at 300 to 400 children and teenagers, most of them described as American-born Jews.[1]

The team was described as Israel's first women's national lacrosse team. One participant wrote: "I found something in Israel that I didn’t expect, Lacrosse, and I am proud and honored to be a part of Israel’s first women’s national lacrosse team."[6]

The association was selected to host the 2018 World Lacrosse Championship after Manchester, United Kingdom, withdrew because of financial problems. Held in Netanya, the event featured 46 teams and was described as the largest championship in the tournament's fifty-year history.[1]

Reported tournament rosters have drawn heavily on players from the United States alongside native-born Israelis.[2][3] At the 2019 European Championship, four women came from the United States to live in Israel, teach youth lacrosse, and play for the national team. Other participants had previously made aliyah but were not then living in Israel, and some exemption players did not hold Israeli passports. The roster also included seven native-born Israeli players, all under age 20.[2]

For the later European championship in Braga, the reported 22-player roster ranged in age from 18 to 26 and consisted of 18 Americans—including some United States-Israel dual citizens—and four native-born Israelis. Fluency in Hebrew was reportedly not required for selection.[3]

MacEllen McDonough, a Jacksonville University lacrosse player, moved to Israel through the Birthright Lacrosse program and became a national-team player and the Herzliya program director. Her work included school recruiting visits and instruction in offensive sets, footwork, stick skills, and shooting, with youth teams spanning the under-15 through under-20 age groups.[2]

At the 2022 World Games, Olivia Mannon, who grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, described competing there as a homecoming. The local Jewish community welcomed Team Israel in the same venue where she had held her bat mitzvah party.[5]

Sophie Bass was hired as the national women's coach in the summer of 2023. Her connection to Israel Lacrosse began after a 2017 Birthright trip, after which she participated in an Onward Israel internship, assisted with youth programs, and played in Israel's women's premier league before taking the coaching role.[3]

Bass described structural challenges facing the program. Israeli girls often begin learning lacrosse later than their American counterparts, and compulsory military service at age 18 makes continuity of player development difficult. The under-20 girls' program was described as consisting mainly of native-born Israelis with some dual citizens.[3]

The team held a training camp in Ashkelon from July 1–8 before traveling to Portugal for the European Championship. Bass called holding the camp in Israel "vital to our success as a team." Some players were reported to have been afraid to attend because of the location near the Gaza border, while others joined because they wanted to participate.[3]

The team made its international debut in 2012 at the European Lacrosse Federation Women's Championship in Amsterdam.[2] At the 2019 Women's European Lacrosse Championship, Israel reached the final and won silver after losing 10–7 to England. England had also defeated Israel 13–3 earlier in the tournament.[2]

In 2022, the team competed in the eight-team women's lacrosse tournament at the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, where the Sixes format—six players per side, a smaller field, and a 30-second shot clock—made its debut. Israel opened with a 17–10 victory over the Haudenosaunee Confederacy before losing to Canada 14–6 and Great Britain 14–12. It was then scheduled to play Japan for fifth place.[5]

At a later Women's European Lacrosse Championship in Braga, Portugal, Israel again reached the final, finishing second among 19 teams. The side defeated Switzerland, Poland, Latvia, Germany, Italy, and Wales; England was the only other team to enter the final undefeated.[3]

At the 2026 Women's Field Lacrosse World Championship in Tokyo, Israel went undefeated through the group stage and defeated fourth-ranked Australia 12–11 in the quarterfinals.[4] The United States defeated Israel 19–7 in the semifinal, although Israel was one of only two teams in the tournament to score in all four quarters against the Americans. The second quarter ended 2–2, the first time since 2009 that the United States had failed to win a quarter at a Women's World Championship.[4]

Israel defeated the Haudenosaunee 7–4 in the bronze-medal match, leading 3–0 after the first quarter and 6–1 at halftime before holding off a second-half comeback. The result earned Israel its first medal at a women's lacrosse world championship.[4] Jordyn Lipkin, named player of the match, led the tournament with 19 goals and 25 total points, including six assists.[4]