DETROIT (4/7/2022) -- University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse senior Emily Beazley didn't know what to expect. After all, she had not played a competitive lacrosse game in nearly two years due to the pandemic and two hip surgeries, but just after the 2022 New Year, she had once again solidified her spot on an England National Team and will proudly don the red and white.

Beazley will suit up for the U23 English Team this summer at the world championships, which will be in the United States at Towson University from June 29 - July 9, the same venue and dates that the World Cup championships will be held for the senior team.

"It was definitely a shock that I made the team," said Beazley. "The tryouts were in September, but since I was coming back from my second hip surgery, they allowed me to push it back until January. When I went there to the training camp, I was just cleared to return to action in late December and I was just doing wall ball and that was the first time I was playing lacrosse and having had any contact since coming back from the surgery. They told me at the end of camp that they wanted me back on the team."

After making the team, Beazley returned home and started practicing with the Titans in preparation for her senior year. In March though, she had to leave the team for a long weekend as the National Team had scrimmages against the Wales Senior and Development Team and a select English travel team. 

For Beazley, the opportunity is a once in the lifetime chance to represent her country. She was born in the states and grew up in Milford, but she is a dual citizen with her entire family originally from England. Her mom and dad and brothers were all born there and she still has family in the country.

"I am the only one in my family who was not born in England," said Beazley. "My dad moved here in 1999 as he was recruited for a project with GM and they would eventually sponsor my family's green card and citizenship. I believe my brothers were five and three at the time."

She would star at Hartland High School and earned First Team All-Conference three times and three-time All-State accolades, including First Team as a junior and senior. As a senior, she was named a US Lacrosse All-American.

"Both of my brothers played lacrosse here and they played travel for coach Hicks," said Beazley. "That is how I got into it, just going to their tournaments and watching. My dad played rugby growing up and in college."

As a prep, she led her team to four regional championships and four state semifinal appearances, posting 165 goals and 56 assists for 221 points along with 103 caused turnovers, 159 ground balls and 51 draw controls in her career. As a junior, she registered 112 points scoring 83 goals, the 12th-most in a single season in Michigan high school history. She also played club with Cyclones lacrosse.

Beazley played in 13 games for the Titans as a freshman, tallying a goal on her first collegiate shot at Howard. She also posted four ground balls, three caused turnovers and two draw controls as a rookie. As a sophomore, she played in all eight games before the pandemic ended the year, but she was fifth on the team with four draw controls, including three at #3 Northwestern, adding one ground ball and one caused turnover.

Head coach Dwayne Hicks was also instrumental in getting her on the U23 team a few years ago when he was an assistant coach on the Titan men's lacrosse team. Hicks played collegiately at Notre Dame and then played and coached professionally in the English Lacrosse Union in Manchester. He led the Timperley Rebels to the national championship in each of his two seasons and then was given the opportunity to coach several members of Team England in preparation for the 1986 World Lacrosse Games.

"Coach Hicks knew the senior coach because they played together and he urged me to reach out and from that came an opportunity to try out for the team back in September of 2019. I had a training camp in November of that year and then in March of 2020, we were in the airport going back over for another camp and that is when President Trump closed down the borders for originally two weeks and we were deciding if I should go or not go, should we risk it because we didn't know how long it was going to be, but we decided not to go. The next time I would go to England was this year's training camp."

Beazley has had to deal with her two hip surgeries that everyone believed at first was just a torn labrum. In October of her junior year, she originally hurt it during a collision with a teammate and it was finally discovered in January of 2020 that she had hip dysplasia. She would have five screws inserted in her hip and miss her junior season, but then in June of 2021, she reinjured her hip and had to have another surgery in September, which cost her valuable practice time coming into her senior campaign and for the National Team. She has come back strong not only making the U23 squad, but playing in nine of the Titans' first 11 games and recording two caused turnovers and three ground balls.

After graduation, Beazley is looking to study abroad and return to England, where she would have two years of eligibility to play at an English University. She believes the game is growing at a great rate and would be a chance to win a national championship there.

"I think the game is more popular than people think in England," said Beazley. "It is played at a lot of private high schools and colleges and there is a national championship run by the BUCS (BritishUniversities and Colleges Sport). It is really growing rapidly in the youth there too."

The chance to play for the senior National Team is one of her goals and hopefully that is in the Olympics as lacrosse is always in the discussion to be added.

"I want to win a world cup medal for sure. I want to rise to the senior team and bring a medal back to Detroit and how cool would it be to be an Olympian. I never thought of that at all growing up," said Beazley. "I want to throw all the Detroit Mercy athletic training staff and Brianne Jacobson, my England physio, my coaches and my teammates for supporting me through this injury and allowing me to play for England."