NYMBURK, Czech Republic. – The Mount Holyoke College lacrosse team is being represented on the international stage as former Lyons defenders Ashley DeFlumere ’09 and Jacinta Edebeli '12 play at the 2015 ELF Women’s Lacrosse European Championship. The inaugural event, which is being held at the Sports Center Nymburk in the Czech Republic, features 17 national teams from across Europe.
DeFlumere, who is also a current assistant coach for the Lyons lacrosse team, is playing for Ireland’s national team at this year’s event. The Irish kicked off action on Friday morning against Austria, posting a 15-8 victory. DeFlumere earned the victory as the goalkeeper, stopping six shots overall. Ireland, which is playing in pool 3, will next face Scotland on Saturday. They will conclude group play on Sunday against Belgium.
Edebeli is a member of Team Switzerland, which opened action this morning also, shouldering a tough 10-8 loss to Latvia. Edebeli scored the game's final goal in the closing minutes, but the Swiss could not pull even. Team Switzerland returns to action on Saturday when it squares-off against Sweden. They will conclude group play on Sunday against Spain.
At this year’s championship, teams are divided into three groups of four and one group of five. The seeding was determined by given team’s placement at the most recent EC (Amsterdam 2012) and World Cup (Oshawa 2013 – relative placement amongst European teams). The top two teams from each round robin pool will proceed into the championship bracket. Third place teams will play a consolation pool competing for the 9th place, while the bottom five teams after round robin will play a consolation pool competing for the 13th place.
DeFlumere, who hails from Bryant Pond, Maine, was a four-year mainstay on the MHC lacrosse team. A captain during her senior season in 2009, she anchored the Lyons defensive backfield, totaling 31 ground balls, seven draw controls and 19 caused turnovers in 42 career contests. Highlighting her collegiate career was a 16 ground ball, five draw control and nine caused turnover season as a junior.
In addition to her assistant coaching duties with the Lyons, DeFlumere is also a Visiting Lecturer of Computer Science at Mount Holyoke College, where she teaches courses in programming and data structures. She joined the Computer Science Department after receiving her Ph.D. from University College Dublin.
Edebeli, who is a native of Edo State, Nigeria, joined the lacrosse program as a senior after a standout career with the MHC track & field team. With the lacrosse team, she appeared in 12 games, posting nine ground balls with three caused turnovers. Currently, Edebeli plays for Zürich Lions Lacrosse and is also a PhD student at ETH Zürich/PSI Villigen.
Action at the ELF Women’s Lacrosse European Championship runs through Saturday, August 15. Fans can follow DeFlumere and Edebeli throughout the tournament by logging on to http://www.ec15lax.com/#. A full schedule, results and a live webcast are available for all games.
Photo of Edebeli courtesy of the Swiss Women's Lacrosse Facebook site . Photo of the Ireland jersey, Ireland goalie stick and DeFlumere in her Ireland uniform all courtesy of Ashley DeFlumere via Twitter.
