Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 6/15/12
From Press Release
The Princeton men¹s lacrosse team returned Thursday night after spending seven days in Costa Rica touring, working with local children, engaging in a project to refurbish a community center and helping bring the sport of lacrosse to a Central American country where soccer is king.
The Tigers – including Haverford Schools grads Alex Beatty and Brendan McGrath – practiced with and played a game against the Costa Rican national team in the capital of San Jose. In doing so, Princeton became the first American college team to play in Costa Rica.
Princeton¹s practice with the Costa Ricans was held in a large park, and the lacrosse attracted many of the young kids who were playing soccer on the adjacent fields.
As for the game, Princeton had an overwhelming edge over its host in skill and experience, and the game itself was non-competitive. The large crowd cheered wildly for each of the three Costa Rican goals and marveled the way Princeton as able to play, and by the end, nobody even knew what the final score was.
At the conclusion of the game, the teams had lunch together, exchanged jerseys and talked about the sport.
From there, Princeton drove nearly five hours to the coastal town of Samara.
The team spent some of its first day there at a community center, running a lacrosse clinic for the local children and then demonstrating the sport to them with an intrasquad scrimmage.
The next day, Princeton returned to the center in temperatures near 90 with extreme humidity and spent four hours sanding and painting the structure, soccer goalposts and fence posts and building benches and bleachers around the field.
The trip ended with two days in another coastal town, Tamarindo.
In addition to the lacrosse and service aspects of the trip, Princeton also spent time whitewater rafting on the Pequare River, ziplining, surfing and on other touristy activities. Several members of the team also attended the Costa Rica-El Salvador World Cup qualifier.
