Torz Anderson and England Women’s Lacrosse cemented their place in the history books as they secured the bronze medal at the inaugural Women’s European Box Lacrosse Championships.

The inaugural women’s championships brought together the best European women's box lacrosse nations for 10 days of action in Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic.

On competing in the historical tournament, Torz Anderson said: "[With] it being the inaugural tournament, it felt really special to be a part of it and be a part of that kind of sporting history and lacrosse history, particularly. Everybody that got selected or was part of the management team or even English lacrosse – we all felt really privileged to have the opportunity to go out there and compete.”

“When we got there, the competition from other European countries was incredibly high. I think we had 3 games which went to overtime, and it just shows you the level of lacrosse that is out there in Europe, and it's just going to keep growing, which is fantastic for the game and for the women's game in particular.”

In the run-up to the bronze medal match, England women won four of their six group stage matches before they fell to a narrow 10-11 defeat against the eventual silver medallists Germany.

In a repeat of their fourth match of the tournament, which ended in a 9-10 overtime loss, England faced Ireland in the bronze medal match running out eventual winners in a 11-7 matchup.

On England women winning the bronze medal, assistant captain Anderson said: “It felt amazing. It was a really long and tough tournament, and we battled a few challenges as a team … so to play 8 games in 9 days in really challenging conditions at times, but to come away with a bronze medal was just amazing, given it was the inaugural European Box Lacrosse Championships for women.”

“I think we'd gone into the tournament with the ambition of making the final and coming away with a gold medal, but the standard was really high, and we had a few results not go our way. So the fact that we could come back and play in the bronze medal match and pull together a really solid performance and come away with the medal was an amazing achievement for everybody involved.”

Torz Anderson also wrote her own piece of history at the Women’s European Box Lacrosse Championships, as she finished as England’s top points scorer across the tournament.

Across the tournament she scored 34 points, 16 goals and 18 assists, meaning she equalised Alex Drewe’s record of 34 points in a single major tournament.

On her points scoring record at this tournament, Anderson said: “I think it's never the reason that we play sport or team sport for the individual accolades." It's obviously a really nice feeling. But I revert back to the fact that if I've scored goals, it's probably because my teammate has set a really hard pick or moved my defender out of the way or put me in the position to be able to take a really good shot.”

"Obviously everybody loves getting on the scoresheet, and I think we had a lot of goalscorers across the team, actually, with multiple goals, which again just shows the depth that we've got in the squad, but I definitely just feel grateful to have been out there with some amazing, amazing teammates who put me in the position that I was able to convert a lot of the chances that I took. So I'm very grateful for my teammates.”

Tournament such as this one and the upcoming World Cup in Japan will set England, and Great Britain, Lacrosse in good stead ahead of the LA 2028 Olympic Games in which Lacrosse will make its long-awaited return.

Lacrosse, which featured at two Olympic games more than a century ago, will be contested at the upcoming Olympics as one of five ‘new’ sports alongside cricket (T20), flag football, squash and baseball/softball.

On what the upcoming Olympics means for lacrosse, Anderson said: “I'm really fortunate enough to be part of the GB squad as well who are working towards the Olympics. We talk a lot, obviously, about our tactics and how we want to play and how we can get better, but we talk a lot around what it will feel like to be an Olympian. What does it mean? What's the legacy that we want to leave?”

"My hopes are really that people will see it. They'll engage with it and they'll actually be inspired by it. And I think inspired for kind of two reasons. One because it's such an athletic, skilful, strategic sport. But secondly, because lacrosse in the UK now, even though we've got national teams that go and compete and win global and European medals. We all still have full time jobs so we're kind of dual career athletes. We train, you know, 789 times a week sometimes. Whilst balancing, full-time education, or full-time work. So I hope that in itself kind of inspires people.”

Lacrosse in England, and especially women’s lacrosse, has grown in recent years, with players like Anderson competing in different types of the sport, including field lacrosse, box lacrosse and lacrosse sixes.

However, the sport and its players want the sport to continue growing, with England lacrosse aiming ‘to hit 100,000 regular lacrosse participants’ with clubs all around the country, including in Hull, Leeds and Sheffield.

On the growth and future of Lacrosse in England, Anderson said: “I think lacrosse is a sport in the UK has been growing really quickly for a number of years now, which is amazing because obviously people first get into the game from kind of field lacrosse traditionally, and that's kind of evolved over time into sixes, which is now going to be included in the Olympics. And then box lacrosse has been very, very recent, particularly for female athletes.”

“There's loads of local clubs floating around for all formats of lacrosse. So, please take a look at the England lacrosse website because there's probably a club more local than you realise, but equally for box lacrosse. It's growing all the time, like you don't even have to have any previous lacrosse experience to get involved. There are different leagues that you can try. There are beginner days, there are taster days, and we just want people to know that it's an inclusive sport. We all really want to grow the game, and we will all help as much as possible. So, I would encourage people to have a look, and if they feel like it's something they want, they should give it a go.”