Westhampton Beach Alumna Belle Smith Competes For Team USA In Women’s Super Sixes Final

Former Westhampton Beach star midfielder Belle Smith has once again shown her prowess at the national level.

The Boston College rising junior scored five goals for Team USA in a 14-12 loss in The World Games women’s lacrosse Super Sixes tournament finale July 17 in Birmingham, Alabama.

Smith admitted that in the Sixes game, energy can wane for team to team, so she knew she and her teammates had to play sound lacrosse for 32 minutes. Sixes is a fast-paced version of the sport played on a smaller field — 70 x 36 meters — with fewer players — 6-v-6 — a condensed game length of four eight-minute quarters and a 30-second shot clock. It was also the first international competition for the U.S. using this new format.

“It’s a momentum-swing game,” Smith told USA Lacrosse. “If one team comes out hot, the other is bound to come back. It makes the game really entertaining.”

The midfielder collected 17 goals, four assists, 11 ground balls and a draw win across five games. She had a four-goal, two-assist game on July 14 in a 25-6 win over the Czech Republic in the last matchup of the preliminary round.

Coach Mandee O’Leary, the University of Florida women’s lacrosse leader, said Smith was a dream to work with.

“She’s the best of the best. She is everything you could ask for as a coach. She is the one you want to coach and the one you want on your team. She’s the whole package,” O’Leary said. “I see why she’s been so successful. She is so coachable, but her skillset is also off the charts. She’s got such charisma. She’s a team player. She’s got a great attitude. She’s got grit. She’s aggressive. She has all of the tools on and off the field to be a successful lacrosse player.”

Smith tallied a hat trick in each of the first two preliminary rounds, and scooped up four ground balls in USA’s 16-10 win over Japan. She netted her third to help break up a late Japan rally.

“She’s shown a lot of leadership and firepower. She’s a great two-way player,” said USA coach Regy Thorpe, Florida’s assistant coach. “Most college coaches followed her throughout her high school days and tried to recruit her, so we’ve known her from a young age and knew she was a top athlete. She has a tremendously high lacrosse IQ and she’s still learning, so she’ll only get better and better.”

Smith connected with University of North Carolina’s Caitlyn Wurzburger several times against Japan. The rising junior attack’s Tar Heels edged Boston College 12-11 in the national championship game back on May 29. Smith scored a goal and scooped up two ground balls that game. Wurzburger also added a goal.

Smith told USA Lacrosse she likes playing with Wurzburger more than against her.

“Hell yeah,” she said, laughing. “We know each other’s tendencies more than anyone else. I’d much rather play offense with her than defense on her behind the cage.”

O’Leary said the girls quickly adapted not only to the new style of play, but to working with each other.

“Every single one of them bought into the fact that we’re a team,” the coach said. “They knew we had a common goal and a common purpose and they blended extremely well. We only practiced three days prior to getting together — some did exhibitions in the fall — but they are extremely, extremely talented and athletic, so I think that played a great part in their success and in getting up to speed so fast.”

But, again, she touted Smith’s ability, which is why she was named captain of the gold-medal game.

“She’d done a great job up until that point that we felt like she was deserving of it,” O’Leary said. “You want the ball in her hands. She’s a great scorer, but also a great feeder, and very unselfish. When you need a goal, you’re looking to get her the ball. She’s a phenomenal two-way middie, and the Sixes style plays into her strengths. She was super impressive.”

Canada claimed its first senior world-level gold medal in a women’s competition, and second women’s gold medal after a U19 world championship in 2015.

The country’s win was spurred by University of Maryland graduate Dana Dobbie, who scored four goals, and Aurora Cordingley, who contributed a goal and three assists. Erica Evans scored the go-ahead goal, her third of the game, to break a 12-12 tie in the fourth quarter.

Goalkeeper Lauren Spence stymied the U.S., holding it scoreless in the last seven minutes of the game en route to 13 total saves for a 52 percent save percentage. Team USA goalkeeper Madison Doucette made 12 stops.

The gold medal came for a Canada squad that brought 10 out of 12 players from the team that won silver at the World Lacrosse women’s championship a week ago in Maryland. Team USA won that matchup, 11-8, on July 9 at Towson University, for the first championship crown on home soil. Smith was part of that team’s training staff. She recorded 19 goals and five assists when she’d competed for that U.S. team.

The medal round wrapped up a banner week of lacrosse at The World Games, as World Lacrosse Sixes also made its global debut in the international multi-sport event. Sixteen teams recorded over 1,000 goals in 36 games, averaging out to a goal scored every 75 seconds of play.

“The quality of the teams and the level of play over the last nine days was absolutely outstanding,” World Lacrosse CEO Jim Scherr said in a statement. “World Lacrosse Sixes was on full display, and showed that it is an incredibly exciting version of the sport. Fans got a taste of what lacrosse might look like in the Olympic arena, and they loved it.”