Lacrosse participation among high school girls is trending up, and scholarships are there

When Jose Herrera was hired as Palmer Trinity’s girls’ lacrosse coach prior to the 2021 season, the first email he received was from goalie Valentina Erigoyen.

“I was thrilled,” Herrera said. “Goalie is the hardest position to fill for girls’ lacrosse. You are getting a hard rubber ball hurled at you at up to 60 mph, and, when it hits you, it’s extremely painful.

“But Valentina is not scared.”

Erigoyen wears limited equipment – just a helmet, chest protector and gloves -- because she doesn’t want her movements restricted.

During a recent practice, Erigoyen got smashed on her left shin, but she is so tough that she had to be convinced to take a break from the workout.

Then again, Erigoyen has made herself into a quality goalie. She made second-team All-Dade as a junior last season, and she has offers to play for a pair of Division III college programs: Babson in Massachusetts and Ohio Wesleyan.

Erigoyen, who is of Cuban ancestry, is part of what USA Lacrosse executive Lou Corsetti hopes is a growing trend: more Hispanics playing the sport.

When Corsetti was a youth in the 1970s, lacrosse was rarely on TV -- just once a year, he said, on Wild World of Sports.

Now, there are a dozen games on TV every week, and the sport can be found on YouTube and throughout social media, all of which helps to expand its player base.

“Florida is one of the top-10 markets in the country for lacrosse with nearly 18,000 players from youth leagues to high schools,” Corsetti said. “But the Hispanic population is challenging because soccer is such a big sport for them culturally, and it requires no equipment other than a ball.

“It’s not an easy sell to ask a parent to buy a bunch of lacrosse equipment for a sport that their seven-year-old child has yet to even try.”

One of the biggest selling points regarding lacrosse is its ability to generate a high rate of scholarships. Among high school boys’ lacrosse players, 12.6 percent of them earn college scholarships, which is the highest rate of any sport.

Among high school girls who play lacrosse, 12.1 percent of them earn college scholarships, which ranks second only to hockey.

However, according to an Inside Lacrosse report from last March, only 3.3 percent of all NCAA lacrosse players are Hispanic, and many of those girls – at least anecdotally – seem to get a late start in the sport.

That was the case for Erigoyen, who had grown tired of competitive dancing, switching to lacrosse as a Palmer freshman.

“I needed a change, and I found my true passion in lacrosse,” said Erigoyen, an aspiring attorney. “I love the adrenaline rush and that the whole game relies on me.”

Erigoyen plays as the starting goalie on one of the top club teams in the nation, Florida Select, and she said she’s one of only two Hispanic girls on the team.

“I’m a minority, especially in travel ball,” she said. “The sport is very white compared to me and my culture.”

Her high school coach can relate.

Herrera, a 39-year-old native of Venezuela, never played lacrosse. He didn’t start coaching the sport until age 26.

But he has become a strong advocate for lacrosse, helping to grow the sport at Palmer.

In his first year at the school, he had 21 players, including nine Hispanics. Now, as he prepares for the start of his third season on Feb. 14, there are 49 total players in the program, including 35 who are Hispanic.

Herrera also has a Hispanic assistant coach: Gianna Arianas, who has Puerto Rican ancestry.

Arianas, a 22-year-old FIU senior, is still an active player. She is one of the captains of FIU’s club team.

But, like Erigoyen, she got a late start in lacrosse, picking up the sport at the age of 16. In fact, Arianas was one of only three Hispanic girls on her Wellington High School team.

“It was frustrating,” Arianas said. “All those other girls had been playing for years. I was behind, but I fell head over heels for lacrosse, and I worked hard to catch up.”

Arianas has also worked hard to grow the game at FIU. When the club team was started, there were only two women on the roster.

Now, there are 14 women, including 12 Hispanics.

“We did lots of ‘tabling’ events,” Arianas said. “We would bring our sticks and jerseys and sit at a table on campus for two hours, approaching girls and saying: ‘You look athletic. How would you like to try lacrosse?’

“Anyone can kick a ball. But lacrosse brings such power, being able to chuck a ball at top speeds, being able to curve the ball or ricochet the ball off the ground. There are so many options to shoot the ball – over your shoulder, between your legs.”

The presence of Hispanic women in lacrosse figures to rise with countries such as Argentina, Spain, Puerto Rico and Mexico recently adding national teams.

There are also Hispanic women serving as role models in the U.S., including Natalia Ortiz, a freshman midfielder at Marymount, a Division III university in Virginia.

Ortiz – like Arianas and Erigoyen – got a late start. She didn’t start playing until the summer before her sophomore year at Westminster Christian.

A native of Puerto Rico, Ortiz said she is the only Hispanic on Marymount’s team.

“But the community of lacrosse is very welcoming,” Ortiz said. “I would tell any girl who is interested in playing lacrosse not to be scared. If you have passion for the sport, keep practicing.”

THIS AND THAT

▪ Gulliver’s boys (12-6, regional finalist) will be under the direction of new head coach Erik Cartelle and led by junior goalie Dominic Veloso, who saved 64 percent of the shots he faced last year and made 220 saves. Veloso will be joined by junior midfielder Benjamin Berger and first team All-District defenders Lucas Sullivan and Brandon Rosenthal.

▪ Gulliver’s girls will be trying to turn things around after a 3-11 season led by new coach Hannah Tornatore and on the field by senior goalie Julia Estrada (151 saves in 2022).

▪ American Heritage’s girls (13-4, regional quarterfinalist) will be led by sophomore midfielder Zoe Herwitz, who had 50 goals and 18 assists last season, and senior midfielder Uliona Petlykov (14 goals, 23 ground balls).

▪ Columbus’ boys (14-6 last season) will be led by junior goalie Andy Pozo and seniors Jacob Angulo and Joey Vilomar.

▪ North Broward Prep, which finished 2-15 last season, is led by junior Jacob Tannebaum, a strong shooter who had 19 goals and 12 assists in 2022.

▪ Westminster Academy’ boys’ team, which went 1-9 last season, will be led by senior goalie Jonathan Macclugage. Seniors Max Reynolds, Michael Fox and Zach Gorter are also solid.

▪ Florida Christian’s boys’ team, 6-6 last season, is led by seniors Julian Alvarez, Nick Farley and Chris Lopez. New coach Michael Cabanas is a former Florida Christian player.

This story was originally published February 6, 2023 at 2:00 PM.