If the women’s national lacrosse team wins this July’s World Cup – held in Guildford, England – it’ll be the eighth time the red, white and blue brings home gold. But it won’t be the only time the U.S. has enjoyed success on English soil, with previous title wins across the pond coming in 1982 and 2001.

So, in taking a trip down memory lane, US Lacrosse Magazine caught up with members of that 1982 team, which played in the first ever IFWLA World Cup. Below are memories and insights, all on the 35-year anniversary of Team USA’s 5-1 run through the tournament.

Coming from various backgrounds

The team, coached by the legendary Jackie Pitts, featured 14 players mostly centering around Baltimore, Boston and Philadelphia. Many were school teachers, and lacrosse was something they did on the side.

Still, they were very close, with a nucleus of players competing the year prior in a five-game series against Australia.

Michele LeFevre, Defense: “All summer long we did our own training, and then we had a training camp at Bucknell at some point in the summer. Because it was just the USWLA and they didn't have major corporate sponsorships and all that, there wasn't a whole lot of finances to help pay for the trip. We were responsible for most of the cost. We had to do fundraising events. My parents even hosted a dinner near our house in Pennsylvania that was a fundraiser for the team. That helped with the cost.”

Leslie Blankin Lane, Attack: “I was a fledgling school teacher who barely made end's meat. But I was lucky enough to have parents who could help me along in that avenue to get me over there.”

Jane Diamond Barbieri, Attack and captain: “I had just received a teaching job at the Penn Charter School in Philadelphia. It was traditionally an all-boys school and it was turning co-ed, so I was hired to start the women's program. That was in '82, so I was hired and had to take a couple weeks off. I did come to school and start a little late. I took some ribbing for that. They teased me. But it really helped when I got there that I had under my belt that I was a member of that World Cup team.”

Jackie Pitts, Head Coach: “In 1974, Maggie Boyd and I had our first formal meeting and it wasn't very formal. We were just sitting on a hill in England, kind of away from everyone, but we could still keep our eye on the game that day. She had contacted all the countries that were then playing and said, 'What do you think? Could this World Cup thing work?' We ended up deciding that we wanted to have a World Cup, or at least have an international lacrosse association for the promotion of lacrosse and interactions among people in different countries. That was passed and the first major project was to have the first World Cup.”

Once in England, it was all business

In the week leading up to the World Cup, the U.S. national team trained at Lilleshall Hall, England’s national sports training center. And that set the tone, with little time for going out and experiencing all that Nottingham, the host city, had to offer.

It also lost the first game, 7-4, to Australia, urging the U.S. to focus on the task at hand.

LeFevre: “I don't think the country was overwhelmed by hosting first World Cup for women's lacrosse. It was just the people in the lacrosse circle who had an interest in the fact that this was happening. The Nottingham Cricket Club we played at was never packed. School girls came to watch and people in the community. But it wasn't like people were clamoring to buy tickets or getting them off scalpers on the street to see a game.”

Blankin Lane: “We didn't really have the time to go out and do the cultural stuff. You focus on one game at a time. After you lose your first game, you have no desire to go do anything but concentrate and win the next so you can go and win your next one. You're representing your country at the first World Cup. It meant so much to us to represent ourselves and Jackie did such a great job in instilling that in us. We were playing for our country, for our school and we wanted to represent ourselves well. We'd have a tournament dinner or whatever, but we were placed in a dorm at Nottingham University and it was simple living.”

Diamond Barbieri: “We wanted to win. We were very serious about it. We wanted to sightsee, meet new people, see the country. But we also wanted to take care of business. What an opportunity it was to play and experience the cultures. I probably won't get back there again.”

Pitts: “Everyone was taking pride for themselves. And I don't mean it individually, I mean collectively.”

The Final Game

After falling to Australia early on, the U.S. stormed back, beating Wales, Scotland, England and Canada in succession. That set up a rematch with Australia, with the Americans ultimately coming out on top 10-7 in overtime.

The game wasn’t without hiccups, though.

Pitts: “The score was 6-1 at halftime for Australia and I was the head coach. Well, coaching at that time was still the old-fashioned way kind of like tennis where the coach isn't allowed to coach during the game. There no timeouts, too, except at halftime where we could coach. I had plenty of time to figure out what was happening and I felt very strongly that we were the better, but Australia was winning because they had one absolutely superb shooter. At halftime, I explained the situation and told the team, 'You are the better team and we're going to win.' I had a mixture of emotions from the team and finally I got them all on the same line. I said, 'If they can score six in one half, we can score six in one half. But this one player, we have to take her out of the game. So we used Anne Brooking to guard this outstanding Australian player, and I told her to go wherever she went.”

Diamond Barbieri: “Coming back for the final I think we had the jitters. We were a little bit intimidated and I know the attack, the offense came out a little bit flat. We just weren't able to score. Then the second half was a complete turnaround. Our defense was really frustrated with us because they were playing well, they were clearing the ball and then we'd get it and couldn't finish. It took a spark from a defender to wake us all up. Then it was contagious and we all upped our game. Fortunately we came out on top after overtime.”

Blankin Lane: “I remember the coaches at halftime shaking their finger and saying, 'Do what you were instructed to do.' I was being yelled at, 'Leslie, make sure you feed the ball. That's what you're good at.' I don't think we believed that we were going to lose. We figured we just had to get the job done sort of thing. The defense held tight and we just slowly chipped away. What made us most successful is the week before the tournament when we were at Lilleshall Hall, at the end of the day after every single practice, the last practice of the day they stopped and said, 'Ok, we've just gone to overtime in the final game.' We had practiced that and knew we had the stamina to do the extra 20 minutes. That's the reason we won. I'm sure of it.”

The Return Home

When the U.S. returned home, they experienced mixed receptions. They had just won the first World Cup and were on cloud nine, but in some instances stateside, it was like nothing happened at all.

Lefevre: “When we came back, we came back as World Cup champions, the first ones. There was no paparazzi there, there was no people asking for your autographs. We got off the plane, met our families, they had their banners and we all said goodbye and went to our own hometown. There was no ticker tape parade down Main Street or anything like that. We got rings, and we bought the rings. So we paid for our own rings.”

Pitts: “Coming back varied with the individual. Some of the players were from [areas] that really didn't play much lacrosse at all, so the newspapers didn't call it. But the school where I was teaching had a Jackie Pitts Day. It was kind of comical. I was at the Sanford School in Delaware. I taught math there for 50 years.”

Blankin Lane: “Didn't get back home until November and it was all said and done kind of thing. There was no hoopla. Maybe an article when I got back from my local paper, but nothing really. It was fine. We were a pretty humble group of women. It wasn't about us as individuals. It was about the whole. You don't really need the recognition because you know what you've done and in the end when people ask you about it, it's very hard to describe or explain to someone the joy, the pride, all of that. If you haven't trained together and done it together and been there, people don't understand what that thrill is.”

Diamond Barbieri: “When we were over there in the actual World Cup, the stands were packed with school kids, tons of little kids in their uniforms and they were waving pen and paper at us asking for autographs. It was really exciting and it made you feel important, made you feel like you were a big star. Then we got home it was very different. We were coming off of a high, and then there wasn't a whole lot of fanfare. ... We got letters of congratulations from [USWLA] people and some of the higher ups, but other than it seemed like it came to an end. Maybe some local articles. We had a number of girls from my hometown in Delaware County, so they did a story about us.”

Impact Still Remains

Several members of the 1982 team have sent letters to the 2017 team explaining what it was like to play in the first World Cup.

Even Jess Wilk, an assistant coach on this year’s team, said the memory of Pitts’ team is everlasting.

Wilk: “Something [2017 coach] Ricky [Fried] talks a lot about with the team is how part of their responsibility is connecting the past, the present and the future. This group is very well aware of the '82 team and the path that they paved for those who came after them, as well as their role right now in paving the way for those who will come after the 2017 team. They've embraced that role and they've done a fantastic job with that. We're certainly grateful to those who have come before us, particularly that '82 team which was the first World Cup ever and they were World Cup champions. We're certainly trying to make them proud.“

Pioneers of the sport?

As winners of the first World Cup, the 1982 team will always hold a special place in American lacrosse history. But, in their eyes, they aren’t trailblazers.

Lefevre: “If it weren't for the women who came before us who had the ideas, the forethought to build international relationships and international lacrosse – those women put this together and made it happen. If it wasn't for those people, I wouldn't have had that opportunity. I always feel like I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time with the right people. If I had been born 10 years earlier or 10 years later, it would be different. I happened to be lucky to be born in the Philadelphia area. I could have been born in Hawaii where the sport wasn't known. It's kind of surreal to say I was part of the first World Cup team, but I didn't do anything to make it happen. I just showed up.”

Diamond Barbieri: “I feel that those who coached me, they also played before me and were phenomenal athletes in their own right. They were very, very good and I give them all the credit for being pioneers. Everyone has a pioneer – the women before them and before them. I'd like to think that we raised with the bar by winning the World Cup, but then the game evolved."

Blankin Lane: “You take pride that you were a pioneer. But we weren't even pioneers, we just happened to be the ones who were in the first World Cup. They had been lots of tours for years and years before us, so I had people that I admired and respected and tried to emulate when I played.”

The Reality

Whichever way the 1982 team members slice and dice it, though, there’s one truth: They’re world champions. Now, 35 years later and ahead of the 2017 tournament, it’s important to not lose sight of what came first.

Wilk: “England’s a really neat country. They have a wonderful tradition and history of lacrosse over there. We're expecting that the ELA is going to put on a fantastic tournament for all of the countries. We're really excited about that, and I know the '82 team had a fantastic experience over the year, the '93 team played over in Scotland and certainly the 2017 team is very much looking forward to getting over to England.”