Savannah Phillips is a trailblazer when it comes to girls field lacrosse in South Delta.
The Grade 12 student at Delta secondary school has become their first-ever local player to earn a scholarship. Phillips will be heading to Pfeiffer University in North Carolina next fall as one of the top recruits for the Falcons' 2013 freshman class.
She signed her letter of intent earlier this month after making an official visit to the Misenheimer NC campus in September.
Phillips got the attention of Pfeiffer's coaching staff while playing for the Burnaby Mountain Selects at a tournament in Palm Springs last January. They became further sold after seeing some game footage. Limestone College in South Carolina was also in the mix and she toured both schools with her dad before making her decision.
"Pfeiffer really seemed like a good fit for me," said Phillips who will be studying kinesiology at the NCAA Division II school with plans on becoming a physiotherapist. "It's not a big school with an enrollment of 980 right now and a 18-to-one student teacher ratio. I really liked that.
Almost like a private institution."
Phillips has been playing lacrosse since she was five but her path to become a top girls field lacrosse prospect has been a short one.
Growing up, box lacrosse was her passion and it remains that way to this day. She played in the Delta Lacrosse girls division and has been a fixture in the Team B.C. program since Grade 8, competing each summer at Nationals.
Phillips also played on boys field lacrosse teams in the Delta Footmen organization.
It wasn't until Grade 9 when she began to realize the opportunities girls field lacrosse offered. The game is much different than the boys' version with no contact to the point where players are not required to wear helmets or padding. Phillips thrives as a midfielder where her box lacrosse instincts of running down loose balls and creating turnovers has made her a dominant player.
"We all tried it the first year and hated it," she laughed. "It really didn't start getting popular here until a couple of years ago. You have to get used to it."
Delta launched its own girls field team but it was short lived due to a lack of players. Phillips and her friends headed to Langley to continue playing and would eventually learn of the program offered through the Burnaby Mountain Selects.
The BMS traveling team would eventually feature four DSS students. Phillips was joined by Erika MacKenzie, Chalene Morrison and Priscila Lawson-Pires. The competitive environment created by BMS girls head coach Chris Fox and trips to U.S. tournaments inspired all of them.
"This is an extremely athletic group of girls," said Phillips mom Darcy. "They fell in love with the game from BMS.
Chris is the main reason for that."
Phillips, MacKenzie, Morrison and Lawson-Pires are all members of Team B.C. that returned from Florida two weeks ago and will continue to train and play in tournaments, leading up to the 2013 Nationals. MacKenzie, Morrison and Lawson-Pires are currently weighing their school options and could be heading south too.
Phillips will also be attending a selection camp in Oshawa next summer for the Canadian U19 team that will be competing at the 2015 World Championships.
