A trio of Mission lacrosse talents are taking their talents to America.
Mission Lacrosse Academy seniors Matt Abbott, Sam Adams and Josh Bramley all recently announced their securing of scholarships to play field lacrosse at universities south of the Canadian border.
Abbott will be attending Queens University of Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina, Adams will be attending North Greenville University in Tigerville, South Carolina and Bramley is heading to Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee.
The skill of all three players was evident early on, as they helped lead the U12 Mission Mud Dawgs to a gold medal for the first time ever at the British Columbia Lacrosse Association’s Tier 2 Field Lacrosse Championships back in 2013. Mission took down Surrey 13-4 in the final, and the team went a perfect 14-0 in the regular season and 5-0 in the playoffs. Abbott earned a most valuable player of the game honours at an earlier playoff game during the title run.
The trio were all key parts of the Fraser Valley field lacrosse team’s bronze medal win at the Abbotsford 2016 B.C. Summer Games. The team lost just one game at the tournament, and trounced the Coastal Vancouver squad 14-1 to earn the bronze.
Bramley received another honour in 2017, when he was named as an alternate player for Team B.C. at the 2017 Midget National Championships. That team finished fourth in the country.
Both Abbott and Bramley were then drafted in the 2018 British Columbia Junior A Lacrosse League draft in 2018. Abbott was chosen 18th overall by the Langley Thunder, while Bramley was also selected by the Thunder 34th overall.
Abbott and Bramley both played on the Thunder Junior B team in 2018, with Abbott collected nine points in 15 games and Bramley contributing with 47 points in 17 games. The Thunder finished fifth overall and bowed out in round one of the playoffs to Port Coquitlam.
Abbott also played 10 games for the Thunder Junior A team in 2018, collecting six points.
All three university programs are in the NCAA’s Division II South Atlantic Conference, and the trio will play conference games against each other starting this fall. Queens was the top ranked program of the three, finishing second in the conference and third overall in the south.
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