Trish Adams, at age 17, alongside her sister Jen age 15, famously captained the Australian U19 team to the World Cup gold medal, beating the highly favoured US 5-4.
“Trish brings a wealth of experience and has much to offer our Australian athletes. Trish has medaled gold, silver and bronze at numerous world events and will bring that knowledge and experience to a talented squad of players.”
This was Lacrosse Australia speaking after appointing SA’s Trish Adams to the head coaching role of the Australian women’s team in 2022.
“Trish has a fantastic record of coaching Australian teams and has been involved as a coach in the National program since 2003. As a coach, her strength lies in the relationships she builds with her players ….”
Trish Adams previously coached the Australian women’s team in 2017 and also the U19 Australian women’s team in 2011 and 2015.
She had also played in world events at Senior and U19 levels, famously captaining the 1995 U19 team to the World U19 Cup gold medal. That event was hosted by the US and the host nation was the clear favourite.
Team USA survived an opening-round scare against Australia, winning 6-5, and then had a relatively easy path into the championship game.
That’s when the undefeated Americans met Australia once again and faced dual dynamos from Brighton, South Australia, who were making their international debuts.
The older sister, Trish, was 17 and captain of the Australian squad. Her younger sister, Jen, was 15. They were the Adams sisters.
“We were just a group of friends out playing the game we loved, and this enabled us to play innately and fearlessly,” Trish Adams said, reflecting on those brilliant beginnings.
“As a young group of Australians heading into the championship, we probably didn’t fully understand the scale of lacrosse in other parts of the world. I think that was helpful to us.”
Overcoming the challenge of innumerable new experiences, like their first international competition and first overseas trip, the young Australian players defeated the favoured US 5-4 in the final to capture the gold medal.
“Trish was the story of that tournament. She was the superstar,” said Melissa Coyne, one of the U.S. goalies on the 1995 team. “She was strong, fast and had a great stick.”
At tournament’s end, she became the cover subject for Lacrosse Magazine’s recap of the event headlined as ‘Awesome, Awesome, Aussies!’
“I have lots of incredible memories associated with those World Championships,” Trish said. “I will never forget holding the cup above my head, looking at my sister, my team and our small but fierce cheer squad and feeling such immense pride, relief and happiness.”
Remarkably, 27 years later, the two sisters would join up once again as coach and assistant coach of the senior women’s team for the 2022 World Cup, where England beat Australia 8-7 for third place.
