Israel Women Announce Coaching Staffs Ahead of Busy 2022 Summer

Clockwise from upper-left: Kara Carlin, Kimberly Dubansky, Jackie Gordon and Shelly Brezicki

ASHKELON, ISRAEL – The Israel Lacrosse Association has named Shelly Brezicki and Jackie Gordon as Head Coach and Assistant Coach, respectively, for the blue-and-white’s entry in the 2022 World Lacrosse Women’s World Championship in Towson, Maryland, while Kara Carlin and Kimberly Dubansky will serve as Co-Head Coaches for Team Israel at The World Games 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama.

Brezicki, who is a native of Kfar Saba, Israel, started the varsity program at Manchester Valley High School and built it into a powerhouse, winning three consecutive state championships from 2014 to 2016. She is also a coach with the highly-regarded Sky Walkers club program and has regularly appeared as a featured speaker at the annual US Lacrosse Convention.

Gordon, who recently finished her fifth season as the Varsity Women’s Lacrosse Coach at Franklin High School, has been involved with Israel Lacrosse since 2015. She most recently served as Acting Head Coach of the Israel Women’s National Program in December 2020’s “Winter Bubble”. Gordon is the current Director of Jewish Life at 6 Points Sports Academy and the Union for Reform Judaism’s (URJ) original specialty camp.

Carlin is currently Director of Athletics at Friends School of Baltimore. She previously served as head coach at Goucher College for five seasons and St. Timothy’s School for 11 years. Carlin coached Team Israel in exhibition action in 2019 against Boston University, Bryant University, and Siena College.  She was a first-team All-American at Franklin & Marshall College and a member of the US Lacrosse Baltimore chapter’s Hall of Fame.

Dubansky, who recently took on the assistant coach role at St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School, previously served as head coach at Maryvale Prepatory School for four seasons.  Dubansky has been involved with Israel Lacrosse since the inception of the women’s program in 2012, serving as both a player and coach over the years. She most recently served as an assistant coach for Israel’s silver-medal run at the 2019 European Championships in Netanya.  The McDonogh School product played collegiately at Johns Hopkins University.

The 2022 Women’s World Championship in Towson, Maryland, will be held June 29-July 9 following a one-year delay due to the pandemic. Israel enters the 30-team World Championship ranked sixth globally.

The World Games 2022 are a multi-sport competition featuring 3,600 athletes in 30+ unique, multi-disciplinary sports. The Games feature the debut of “Lacrosse Sixes”, as lacrosse hopes to continue to shape itself for inclusion in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Israel is one of eight countries invited to Birmingham for lacrosse.

The Israel women’s program will be participating in a pair of showcase weekends in Baltimore, MD, and Boston, MA from September 11-12 and 18-19, respectively. Israel’s complete training schedule is expected to be released later this summer.

For more information regarding Israel’s women’s program, please contact Sarah Meisenberg at sarah@israellacrosse.org.