Waikiki, HI - West Coast Force will travel to Oahu to play in the 20th Annual Hawaii Tournament. Registration is now open for all 18 and over applicants. West Coast Force will not be taking a U-19 team this year. The tournament is requiring that all participants be 18 or over as of the start date of the tournament.

The $125 per person early bird team participation fee includes the entry fee and the uniform. It does not include air fare, ground transportation, hotel or meals. Player arrival should be on Friday, October 29th, or earlier in the week. Flights home on Sunday, October 31st, should be at 7pm or later. The championship game is usually starts at 1 or 2pm and the tournament Halloween party is on Sunday night so take a look at flying home on Monday morning or later.

Possible Fees:

• $125 - Paid by September 15th.
• $175 - Paid after September 15th.

Click Here to Register to Play In Hawaii

Tokyo, Japan - The West Coast Force played their final game of the 2010 International Friendship Games and came back from being down 4-6 at halftime to win 10-9 over the Kantai Under-20 Team.

The Force got the first goal of the game when Jillian Boyd (West Virginia Wesleyan '08) passed to Jordan Venetis (SBCC '10 and UCSB '12) on a fast break in the first few minutes of action. Then Kantai outscored the Force 6-3 the remainder of the half. Force goals came from Maddie Saxton (Franklin & Marshall '14) when she picked up a ground ball in front of the cage and flicked it in, Kati Kasch UConn '08) unassisted on an inside roll move from behind the cage and Boyd unassisted.

The second half started slowly for both teams as opportunities went unfinished.  Then the Force came alive. Boyd fed Kasch for a goal and then Kasey Marchwicki (Virginia Wesleyan '09) fed Kasch for another goal.  Kasch scored unassisted again and then Boyd passed to a guest Japanese player who just happened to be her host for her home-stay nights in Tokyo.  That brought the Force to within on goal of Kantai and the score was 8-9. Boyd got involved again and scored unassisted setting up heroics for someone to win in the last minutes of the game.

A three second call on the Japanese team defense gave Venetis a free position shot from the second hash to the left as the shooter faces the goal.  It was as good an opportunity as right handed shooters get and Venetis buried her chance to put the Force up 10-9. The lead held after some scurrying all over the midfield after a ball that seemed too hot too handle for both teams.  With about 90 seconds remaining the ball ping ponged back and forth pretty much in the middle section of the field the entire time. Eventually the Force came up with the ball and were able to hold onto it for the last 15 seconds of the game to get the win.

Boyd led all scorers with 2 goals and 3 assists while Kasch scored 4 goals.  Katherine Herzog  (McDaniel '13) played in goal the first half and had 6 saves. Kat Frazer (UCSB '13) was in goal the second half and had 3 saves. The Force fly home to the United States on Monday, June 28th, to resume their normal lives.

Tokyo, Japan - West Coast Force players and their hosts mixed up for a friendly scrimmage on Saturday at Oi Dai Sports Complex. The final result was a little lopsided but everyone had a good time. The final score was not recorded.

Tokyo, Japan - West Coast Force took the subway, train and monorail from their digs at the Tokyo Olympic Village to Oi Dai Stadium to play Japan national champion Tokai University. Even though the name is the same the University team is not to be confused with the Tokai District Under-20 team the Force played in Nagoya last week. The hosts took a 9-1 lead into halftime to run away with a 19-4 win. While the Force looked like they might get back into it with three straight goals to start the second half Tokai scored 10 in a row for the final 13 goal win. 

In the first half the only Force goal was scored by guest player and Tokyo resident Kata Ayano, on loan by the Japan Lacrosse Association for the 10 field player and 2 goalie roster Force. In the second half Kasey Marchwicki (Virginia Wesleyan '09), Kati Kasch (UConn '09) and Jillian Boyd (Virginia Wesleyan '08) scored a goal apiece. Katherine Herzog (McDaniel College '13) started in goal for the Force and had 7 saves. Kat Frazer (UCSB '13) played the second half and had 4 saves.

Up next for the Force is a rest day on Friday with distribution to host families all over Tokyo.  Then on Saturday the Force will play in a mixed scrimmage with Japanese teams, about half the Force players will be mixed onto one Japanese team while the other half will be mixed onto another Japanese team in the ultimate result of a "friendly" as matches are sometimes called.

Sunday is the wrap up and main game of the 2010 International Friendship Games. The Force will play the Kantai District U-20 team at 1:00pm, also at Oi Dai Stadium.

Nagoya, Japan - Thunder storms spoiled the second day of competition at the International Friendship Games in Nagoya. It was going to be a mudder for sure for the Force at Shinchayagawa Park with standing water on the field from rains the night before and grass sparse in most areas inside the boundaries. That alone wasn't going to stop anyone from playing, though, with eight Japanese college teams all there early and shuttling sand to the low spots via plastic bags. It is the rainy season in Japan and with Nagoya coastal on the Pacific Ocean it can get really wet.

At the first sound of thunder Japan Lacrosse Association officials warned they would wait at least 15 minutes before making any decisions. Twenty minutes later the Force started warming up and it wasn't even five minutes after that when a loud rumble resulted in everything being called off. Everyone was disappointed but there's plenty of lacrosse coming up on the tour. The Force feels for the eight Japanese college teams that were queuing up to play the Americans in ten minute games.

• Aichi University
• Sugiyama University
• Nanzan University
• Shukutoku University
• Aigaku University
• Aikyo University
• Nagoya University of Foreign Studies
• Shigakukan University

The Nagoya portion of the tour ends tonight with the JLA Farewell party at the Kokusai Center. Monday morning the Force will head to Tokinosumika and Mt. Fuji for their stay at the Gotemba Kogen Hot Springs Resort.

Nagoya, Japan - The Tokai Under-20 team led 8-5 at halftime in the opening game of the West Coast Force tour of Japan for the International Friendship Games and held on to win 11-7. Tokai is the district around the city of Nagoya and the team was made up of players who were successful in try-outs held last August. Shortly after the 2009 Friendship Games players from all around Nagoya tried out to be on this team to represent Tokai in 2010.

UC Santa Barbara assistant coach Jillian Boyd (West Virginia Wesleyan '08) led the Force with 5 goals. Kati Kasch (UConn '09) scored a goal in the first half with an assist from Kasey Marchwicki (West Virginia Wesleyan '09). Incoming UCSB attacker Jordan Venetis (Santa Barbara City College '10) scored a goal to round out scoring for the Force. Katherine Herzog (McDaniel College '13) started in goal and had 10 saves to offset 8 goals allowed to save 55.6%. Kat Frazer (UCSB '13) played the second half making 3 saves while allowing 3 goals for 50%.

The event started with Opening Ceremonies befitting an international program. After some opening remarks by Japan Lacrosse Association dignitaries starting line-ups were announced and the national anthem for both countries were played. The Games started with all five teams involved, including three Japanese men's lacrosse teams, and the referees marching out and lining up facing the crowd of more than 1,500 fans in attendance.

"Just like everything the JLA does this event was very well planned and we could tell a lot of effort went into it," said Force Director and UCSB head coach Paul Ramsey after the game.

"It's likley this is the largest crowd of spectators for most of our team members in their lacrosse careers."

Up next is an 8 college team jamboree on Sunday afternoon where the Force will line up for 8 consecutive 10 minute games against Nagoya area college teams. So many teams were eager to play the American team while it is in Japan the Japan Lacrosse Association decided to give multiple teams the opportunity to get in on the action.

Sunday Jamboree Opponents:

• Aichi University
• Sugiyama University
• Nanzan University
• Shukutoku University
• Aigaku University
• Aikyo University
• Nagoya University of Foreign Studies
• Shigakukan University
  

Nagoya, Japan - The West Coast Force women's lacrosse team landed in Nagoya after a long day of traveling from multiple points in the United States. Twelve players and one coach make up the travel party that is participating in the International Friendship Games, sponsored by the Japan Lacrosse Association (JLA). 

It was smooth going all the way with everyone making their connections and all luggage making it through. Obviously tired but showing great mettle the team, ranging in age from 16 to 23, trooped through connections, check points and filling out forms...all tedious steps too common with air travel these days.

The long planning process to make the trip possible has reached fruition. West Coast Force has a lot of people and organizations to thank for making it all possible.  Three organizations will be named now.

A Big West Coast Force Thank You To:

• Japan Lacrosse Association (Taro Endo, Yasuhiko Hayakaway, Mugi Last Name Unknown, Hiroki Kato, Yoshinori Suzuki and Kou Teramoto).
• Japan Sports Promotion (Kenji Arita, Sayaka Kamo, Keisuke Imai and Shihoko Nakashima).
• Santa Barbara Travel (Nancy Herman and David de L'Arbre).

No doubt there were many others working behind the scenes who I've left out.  Thank you to all of them too.

Day two of the trip includes a short practice and sightseeing at Nagoya Castle and in Osu before everyone splits up for two days of being hosted by Japanese lacrosse families. Each day a player on the team will contribute a few paragraphs in blog format to this website. Depending on the availability of an easy internet connection the blog might be posted daily.  Multiple posts will certainly be posted in chronological order.