Mariah Whitfield will join the defending champions of North America’s second-highest collegiate athletics in 2024.
Mariah Whitfield will be in a dead heat next year with some of North America’s best field lacrosse players.
The Port Coquitlam product has built an impressive resume that recently earned her an engagement at the University of Indianapolis beginning in the 2024 season.
The greyhounds of the reigning NCAA Div. II – the second highest level of collegiate athletics on the continent.
Whitfield’s passion and involvement through Port Coquitlam minor league and provincial competitions resulted in a glass ceiling being broken for the sport.
In August 2022, Terry Fox’s Secondary 12 student was an assistant captain for Team BC at the debut of the Canadian Summer Women’s Box-Lacrosse Games.
She scored three goals and one assist in six games in the national tournament, earning a silver medal along with four other Tri-Cities athletes on the roster.
“My personal role models are all of the female lacrosse athletes from BC who went to college on lacrosse scholarships and went to many places for lacrosse,” Whitfield said in her profile for the Summer Games of Canada.
“My number one role model besides those I’ve seen in my province would probably be Charlotte North as she is an amazing lacrosse player.”
Prior to the Canada Games, Whitfield helped win the Port Coquitlam Saints’ first box lacrosse title in the province in four years.
The 17-year-old, who is listed as an attacker, defender and midfielder, has represented BC on a number of other occasions in places like Arizona and Texas.
She was also part of the 2019 provincial national championship team in Lacrosse Canada’s women’s bantam division, leading the blue-golds to a 7-1 record at Coquitlam.
“We are all so proud of her that she has committed to a scholarship to play in the NCAA,” Whitfield’s father Chris said in an email to the Tri City News.
Whitfield has proven herself in other sports like soccer, volleyball and tennis, but her ultimate dream is to represent Canada’s national field lacrosse on the world stage.
She is also part of the Terry Fox Secondary girls’ field lacrosse team, which currently plays exhibition games against three other schools.
Whitfield could also join some former teammates next year as there are currently five Tri-Cities athletes on the Indianapolis roster.
The Greyhounds posted a 22-1 record in 2022, breaking the NCAA Div. II championship trophy to the university, including 6-0 in the playoffs.
U-Indy is already 2-0 up to start its 2023 field lacrosse campaign in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC).
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