By the time Jami MacDonald was born, their household had already been firmly established as a lacrosse family.
Her brothers, 13 and 11 years older, were well into their minor lacrosse careers. Brendan and Mike MacDonald would eventually win the Founders Cup, the national Jr. B championship, with their hometown Halton Hills Bulldogs and Mike would add a Canadian Jr. A title with Whitby.
Their little sister picked up a lacrosse stick at four years old and started playing lacrosse on boys’ teams. She would join her brothers to throw the ball around and it would get a little competitive.
Of course, with her brothers being much older, they would be protective of their little sister.
“I don’t know about that,” MacDonald says. “It was all good fun, but they definitely didn’t take it easy on me. I think that’s why now I can take a hit and get right back up.”
At least they didn’t stick her in net, as is usually the fate of a younger sibling. Instead, like her brothers, MacDonald has developed into a dangerous goal scorer.
It has not gone unnoticed. She just finished her sophomore season at Princeton University where she finished third on the team with 34 goals and fourth with 55 points.
And in August she will suit up for Canada at the World Lacrosse Women's Under-20 Championships in Hong Kong.
“It’s so exciting,” the 20-year-old said. “Playing in Hong Kong will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. You grow up watching Canada play, and now getting the opportunity to do it, it’s something I’m really looking forward to.”
Canada enters the tournament ranked second behind the United States in the 22-team field. Canada will open the tournament Aug. 16 against Wales.
The tryout process for the Canadian team began last August with 100 hopefuls vying for one of the 22 spots. The field was eventually narrowed to 30 through a series of tryouts and MacDonald got the call earlier this month to let her know she had made the team.
There was a time where MacDonald wondered if her future was in another sport. She played both lacrosse and hockey at The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, where she attended in Grades 10 through 12.
In hockey, she focused on preventing goals as a defenceman. Though she enjoyed both sports, she saw more of a future and a better opportunity to earn a scholarship in lacrosse.
“I knew I had to pick one and commit to it to get where I needed to be,” she said. “I felt I was better at lacrosse and I’d have more opportunities.”
That led to Princeton, where she followed in brother Mike’s footsteps (Brendan played at Rochester Institute of Technology). She had a solid rookie season, scoring 17 goals in 10 games and then doubled that total this year.
“I was still a little nervous (in my rookie season),” she said. “Getting a year of experience under my belt, I got a better sense of how to attack. I play low attack and I think I have a good IQ and see the field well.”
Those are skills she’ll now bring to the national team as Canada tries to take the world championship back from the United States and win its first world title since 2015.
