‘Playing With My Heart’: Holmdel Student Secures Historic Win For Chile Women's Lacrosse

HOLMDEL, NJ — Lacrosse has always been an important part of Holmdel High School senior Claudia Diaz’s life.

Claudia, 18, began her lacrosse experience in third grade when her family first moved to Holmdel. The sport not only gave her community, but also helped her make friends and gave her a goal to work towards with a team.

“I’ve played so many sports over the years — I did soccer, gymnastics, basketball, I swam, I played tennis. I did everything,” Claudia said in an interview with Patch. “But lacrosse really stood out to me from the beginning as something that was more fun for me to do.”

After she began playing in third grade, Claudia was introduced to club lacrosse in fifth grade and played club for about seven years. But it wasn’t until one of her assistant club coaches mentioned a tournament she would be playing in that Claudia got to take her lacrosse skills even further.

“One of my coaches told us that she was going to be playing at some kind of tournament for a country of her heritage, which was Mexico,” Claudia said. “She shared a viewing link with us, and when I was watching the game, I was like ‘Wait, this program is really cool. I wonder if I could do something like that?’”

The program ended up being the Heritage Cup, an international lacrosse tournament that brings together teams from around the world to compete.

After Claudia learned of the tournament, she and her father, Oscar, reached out to the Chile Lacrosse Team for World Lacrosse, and a few weeks later, she was on her way to compete with other players of Chilean heritage in Boston, MA.

“I’ve never had so much fun playing the sport,” Claudia said of the experience. “With high school, it’s a little stressful — you’re playing with stats and trying to win. And then with club, it’s a much faster pace.”

“But when I was playing in Massachusetts, I was really playing with my heart,” Claudia continued. “Because it was for something bigger than myself, being that we want to instill lacrosse as a bigger thing in Chile.”

While teamwork and collaboration were key parts of the tournament, it was up to Claudia at the end of a tie game against Latvia to secure her team’s win.

In the fiercely competitive game, the two teams ended regulation time tied at 6-6, which forced a sudden-death overtime face-off (also known as “Braveheart”). As the team huddled up to decide which player would take to the field, Claudia’s coach locked eyes with her and told her he wanted her to do it.

“I was like, ‘Are you serious? Me?’” Claudia recalled to Patch. “I was freaking out. Not out of fear, but adrenaline and all the feelings in that moment. But I decided, ‘If you [the team] trust me, if you think I can do it, I’ll do it. I’ll do anything for y’all.’”

Though adrenaline and nerves were high as she took to the field, Claudia said she remembers thinking one thing: “That ball is mine.”

“There was nothing that was gonna stop me from trying to get this win,” Claudia said. “For my country — the place my dad is from and the place I’m from by proxy. It was a really intense moment.”

While emotions were high and Claudia initially lost the draw control during the match, she was later able to make a critical defensive stop and sprint down the field to beat the goalie and score the game-winning goal, securing the first victory in the history of Chile women’s lacrosse.

“As I got to the goal, shot and scored, the emotion that filled my heart in that moment was like something I’ve never felt before,” Claudia said. “It was just immense pride and joy.”

Claudia wasn’t the only one filled with pride in the moment, either. After she scored the winning goal, she was met with hugs from her team and happy tears from a group of the team's parents, including her own.

“It was a powerful moment not just for Claudia, but for an incredibly humble and hardworking Chilean team that’s still in its early stages of development,” Claudia’s father, Oscar, said in an email to Patch. “Built on sacrifice, dedication, and national pride, this win meant everything to the players, families, and coaches who have given so much to be part of something bigger. Claudia and our family are so proud to have represented Chile, Holmdel and New Jersey.”

This June, Claudia will graduate from Holmdel High School before going on to play lacrosse at the collegiate level at the Stevens Institute of Technology, where she plans to major in Quantitative Finance. She was also recently chosen to represent Holmdel on the All-Shore Team.

Going forward, Claudia said she’s excited to continue on her lacrosse journey and encourages young lacrosse players to follow their dreams and look into getting involved with the Heritage Cup Tournament.

“I just want to really emphasize how thankful I am to have had the opportunity to play with these girls, meet all the people I met, and see the emotion that went into this program,” Claudia said. “It’s a whole entity with men’s and women’s lacrosse going to these tournaments...it’s incredible.”

To learn more about the Heritage Cup, you can visit their website. To learn more about Chile Lacrosse, you can click here.

Editor's Note: This article has been updated with an additional photo of Claudia Diaz.