The Salem Lacrosse Foundation’s first ever Salem Invitational Tournament saw division champions from four of the six clubs represented – including the host Salem Youth Lacrosse Club.
Boys and girls teams in the elementary and middle school age groups competed Saturday and Sunday at Salem high school and West Salem Elementary School.
In the boys divisions, the Salem boys won the middle-school bracket, while the Hidden Valley Youth Lacrosse Assocation Storm won the elementary.
The Lexington Lacrosse Club’s middle school girls took their division, while the East Roanoke Bandits won the girls’ elementary bracket.
North Cross school and the Roanoke Valley Ladies Lacrosse Association also competed.
The Salem Youth Lacrosse Club was founded in 2000, and for the last two years has offered boys and girls programs in the burgeoning sport, which saw a huge weekend in Salem. Besides the youth tournament, the city was host to the NCAA Div. III Women’s National Championship. Coaches and players in town for the tournament hosted a free clinic for girls Saturday morning, and several Salem players served as ball girls for the semi-final and championship games.
-- Matt Chittum

At left, Salem elementary girls Coach Jennifer Harris prepares to lead the team of second through fifth graders in a cheer to start play.

We'll have more photos from Salem lacrosse in Friday's print editions of So Salem.

Below: Jordan Hayes, a 5th grader at West Salem Elementary, sets up for a draw to start play in a Sunday morning match against the East Roanoke Bandits.

Below, center: Hadley Chittum, an East Salem Elementary 4th grader, heads downfield with the ball against the East Roanoke Bandits.

Below, bottom: The Salem elementary girls get a half-time talk from Coach Jennifer Harris during a match against the Roanoke Valley Ladies Lacrosse Association.

We had a previous post about Salem lacrosse on May 5.

• Share this entry
  • Digg this entry
  • Mark in Ma.gnolia
  • Tag with del.icio.us
  • Seed Newsvine
  • Post to Google
  • Add to Yahoo!
  • Share on Facebook
  • Submit to Reddit
  • Related at Technorati
• Posted by dwayne yancey in Sports and recreation
• :: Comments (0)