sports@mapleridgenews.com
In a time when many young athletes are being told to specialize early in order to chase the dream of a college scholarship, Samual Robertson Technical’s Candace McDole is a brilliant, multi-sport exception.
McDole has won a four-year field lacrosse scholarship, while also playing varsity field hockey and basketball at the high school level with her Titans.
McDole is no stranger to the high-level lacrosse scene. The SRT graduating senior has been a part of the Team BC Lacrosse program for the past five years. Participation in this program has taken her all over North America for various competitions.
She will now be taking her lacrosse talents to Pittsburgh, where she has signed a four-year scholarship to attend the Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Her choice of schools was influenced by her academic standards as well – she will be studying pre-medicine in the fall.
For McDole this has been a long-term goal achieved. She has been playing lacrosse for 13 years with the Ridge Meadows Burrards. In that time, she has been a part of four provincial box lacrosse championships; and had three gold medal finishes at the national championships. She has also achieved personal recognition in these events.
McDole was named the top goalie at the national championships for two years, as well as a first team all-star.
In 2015 she was named the Box Lacrosse Player of the Year – an award given to the top player, male or female in the province.
In addition to her participation as a player, McDole has coached girls lacrosse at the pee wee level, and has also worked as an official for the last six years as well.
Achieving her goal of receiving a scholarship to play lacrosse is something Candace knew she could not do on her own. She credits her success to the Team BC Field Lacrosse Program and coaches Jeff Gombar, Pat Coyle and Don Stroup.
Most importantly, she said, she is grateful for all of the efforts of her parents Danita and Jason, as well as her brother Mitchell.