OCEAN CITY- Over 100 girls’ youth lacrosse teams from all over the country have descended on Ocean City for the 2007 Girls’ Beach Lax Festival, which gets underway with first round games today at Northside Park.
Hosted by the Ocean City Recreation and Parks Department in conjunction with the local Beach Lacrosse program, the annual festival has grown by leaps and bounds over the years and this year will welcome over 100 of the top girls’ youth lacrosse programs from all over the east coast and beyond. Girls’ teams in several age categories and several skill levels will compete in the three-day event, which gets underway today and culminates with championship games on Sunday afternoon.
Because of its size and the number of teams, the tournament will be played practically around the clock all weekend with games beginning this evening at 5:30 and going on until about 10 p.m. On Saturday, the games will resume at 7 a.m. and go on until about 10:30 p.m., and on Sunday, the action gets started at 7 a.m. and will culminate in division title games ending around 4 p.m.
Because of the growing popularity of the girls’ tournament, a boys’ youth lacrosse tournament has been added this year on the same dates. Around 42 boys’ youth lacrosse programs from all over the state and region will play their own tournament at the Northern Worcester Athletic Complex in Berlin on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Local youth lacrosse teams almost always excel in the tournament held right in their backyard. Last year, for example, the Beach Lacrosse girls’ under-15 team took the title in the tournament’s “B” division, while a pair of teams from the Greene Turtle Lacrosse Club won championships in two divisions of the first-ever boys’ segment of the event.