Regy Thorpe & Ginny Capicchioni will coach Team USA at the 2024 World Lacrosse Box Championships
Regy Thorpe, New York Riptide (Photo: Bob Frid)
US Lacrosse has announced that Regy Thorpe & Ginny Capicchioni will serve as head coaches of Team USA’s entries at the 2024 World Lacrosse Box Championships.
Thorpe, who coached Team USA at the 2019 World Indoor Lacrosse Championships, will again lead the men’s team, while Capicchioni was appointed the women’s head coach.
This will be the first time women’s teams will participate at the tournament, which has seemingly switched names from the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships to World Box Lacrosse Championships. Capicchioni, who played in goal for Team USA at the 2011 WILC in Prague, Czech Republic, remains the only woman to represent her country at the international box tournament.
Prior to the pandemic altering World Lacrosse’s international tournament schedule, it was anticipated the box championships would have been held in 2023. The last games were played in Langley, British Columbia in 2019. A total of 20 nations took part.
Past WILC had taken place in: various Ontario-based locations with the finals held in Hamilton (2003), Halifax, Nova Scotia (2007), the previously mentioned Prague (2011), and Onondaga/Syracuse, New York (2015).
In all five international box tournaments, Canada has won gold, the Iroquois Nationals have taken silver, and the US bronze.
Since the box championships were established, Thorpe played for the only American team that has beaten Canada. Prior to the 2003 event, Team Canada and Team USA played in an exhibition game, the Heritage Cup, in Mississauga, Ontario at the then-named Hershey Centre. The Americans stunned the Canucks 21-16. It remains one of box lacrosse’s biggest upsets. In WILC (now WLBC) competition, however, Canada has yet to lose a game to any nation over five tournaments.
“We were so close to making that gold medal game in 2019 and now our player pool is one of the largest we’ve ever had,” Thorpe said in the US Lacrosse coaching announcement, referring to the team’s narrow 9-7 loss to the Iroquois in that year’s semifinals. “The competition for roster spots is going to be very competitive and the expectations are high for this group. We want to compete for a gold medal.”
Thorpe, who was inducted into the National Lacrosse League Hall of Fame in 2021 and is considered one of the country’s all-time greatest box players, currently serves as an assistant women’s lacrosse coach at the University of Florida. Thorpe is a Minto Cup winner in both head & assistant coaching roles with the Six Nations Arrows, and most recently coached high-level box lacrosse with the NLL’s New York Riptide during the franchise’s expansion season in 2020. Thorpe also won two NLL Cups as a player with the Rochester Knighthawks.
Maybe most remembered as the only female to ever appear in an NLL game, Capicchioni played several seasons of box in both Canada and the US, in addition to coaching the field game as schools like Rutgers, Penn, Michigan and Louisville. She was also a standout collegiate player at Sacred Heart.
“I played men’s box for 14 years and it has had a very significant impact on my life,” Capicchioni said in this week’s announcement. “This is the first time it is available to women at the top level in our country. I am very excited to see the impact that this game will have on our players, as well as those who watch them play.”
Over a year ago, World Lacrosse announced their bid process for the 2024 World Lacrosse Men’s Box World Championship, but have also recently listed “Box Championships (Men + Women) – TBD” on their official events page. Yesterday’s US Lacrosse announcement further confirms that , “Next year’s championships, at a site and date to be announced…,” are still looking for a home.
Capicchioni confirmed that the women’s tryouts will start this spring. Due to NLL and Premier Lacrosse League commitments, it seems unlikely the men would hold a camp at the same time, at least not for the projected top players.
No other nation has seemingly made any other announcement regarding next year’s games.