NTDP Well Represented on USA U20 Women's Training Team

In 2019, head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller returned the World Lacrosse U19 championship to the United States with a victory over Canada in the gold medal game in Peterborough, Ontario. She took tremendous pride in the geographic diversity of the team she and her staff put together. 

Its leading scorer, Caitlyn Wurzburger, was from Florida. Its leading goal scorer, Izzy Scane, was from Michigan. Its All-World defender, Bri Gross, and goalie, Rachel Hall, hailed from California and Texas, respectively.

The hotbeds weren’t ignored either. All-World draw specialist, Maddie Jenner, came from Maryland.

Now head coach of the 2024 U.S. Women’s U20 National Team that will compete in Hong Kong next summer, Amonte Hiller is enjoying a new way to bring players into the U.S. team program.

Of the 42 players that were named to the training team, 31 of them participated in the National Team Development Program (NTDP). They’re back in Sparks this week for training camp Monday-Wednesday and in October for the USA Lacrosse Fall Classic.

Launched in 2019, the NTDP annually has approximately 1,500 players from around the country participating. The three-phase program includes regional tryouts, a national combine and ultimately USA Select teams at the U16 and U18 age groupings for boys and girls. The USA Select teams compete against international competition at the Fall Classic in October.

The entire process helps get them ready for both college, and now in this case, a U.S. national team.

“Having the opportunity to work with an experienced staff from USA Lacrosse, it was not all about X’s and O’s,” said Kori Edmondson, a two-time USA Select team member that scored 41 goals in her rookie season at Maryland. “The staff prepared us for challenges we would face during our transition from high school to college.”

Another star to come through the program is Emma LoPinto, an IWLCA second-team All-American at Florida, who was tied for 14th in the country with 90 points scored and has 187 points after two college lacrosse seasons. She played on a USA Select team in the inaugural year of the program in 2019.

“It made me step out of my comfort zone, meet new people and become more outgoing,” said LoPinto, who is transferring to Boston College. “It also helped me become more receptive to new experiences.”

Having these players with U.S. team and international experience will be another bonus for Amonte Hiller, who was impressed with the talent pool at tryouts in early July.

“We had an incredible weekend at USA Lacrosse headquarters,” Amonte Hiller said. “The amount of pure talent and passion for the sport made the weekend unforgettable. We’re so excited for the next step on this journey to Hong Kong with this strong group of players.”

She once again has strong geographic diversity with the training team players coming from 12 states and the District of Columbia. She also has players from 19 different colleges that have been exposed to a variety of systems and approaches.

She will also have the most experienced U.S. team ever with World Lacrosse raising the age of the championship from U19 to U20.

And man, will she have talent.

• One of her own Northwestern players, Madison Taylor, was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Taylor was the fourth-leading scorer (53g, 17a) for the national champion Wildcats.

• The nation’s top two-goal scoring freshmen, Cincinnati’s Camryn Callaghan and Army’s Brigid Duffy, are both on the training team after scoring 56 goals as rookies. Callaghan was the American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year. Duffy was the Patriot League Freshman of the Year and a second team All-American by USA Lacrosse Magazine.

• Boston College goalie Shea Dolce, who helped the Eagles reach the NCAA championship game, is one of four members of the ACC All-Freshman team to advance to the U.S. training team.

• Lindsey Devir (Mid Atlantic) and Chloe Humphrey (Northeast) were the USA Lacrosse Magazine Regional Players of the Year in their final season of high school lacrosse. Devir, a midfielder from Ridgewood (N.J.) is headed to Stanford. Humphrey, the USA Lacrosse Magazine National Player of the Year, is an attacker from the nation’s No. 1 high school team, Darien (Conn.), and is headed to North Carolina. 

Follow @USAWLax on X (formerly Twitter) and @usa_wlax on Instagram for highlights from this week’s training camp and check back here to USALaxMagazine.com for a recap later this week.