Ontario Tech women's field lacrosse alumna Dale Wilson has been selected as an official for the World Lacrosse U-21 Men's Lacrosse World Championship this summer.
 
Wilson played for the Ridgebacks from 2018-20, winning the team's leadership award for the 2019-20 season. She was also recognized multiple times for her academic successes with the OUA all-academic award.
 
A record 23 teams will compete in this summer's championship, which will be the largest ever age group world championship staged by World Lacrosse. The event runs August 10-20 in Limerick, Ireland at the University of Limerick.
 
While this event is a milestone event for Wilson, this is not her first opportunity to travel the world and officiate at the highest level. She was previously selected for the 2018 men's world championship held in Israel, making her the first woman from North America to have been selected to officiate at a men's world lacrosse championship. The opportunity this year came through a tryout process to represent Canada at the event.
 
"Being selected for this tournament means a lot for me both personally and professionally," said Wilson. "I think it's so important to create spaces women in sport and I am honoured to be the first woman from North America to be selected to officiate at this level. My goal is to certainly not be the last. I am very grateful to have such strong and supportive mentors who have helped me get to this point in my officiating career. I guess my goal is just to be the best official I can be regardless of my gender. Overall, the lacrosse community has been supportive of having women officiate at the championship and at the end of the day it's about making the right calls and that's something I feel prepared to do."
 
Since graduating from kinesiology at Ontario Tech, she hasn't been playing much lacrosse as her focus on the field has been on the officiating side of the game. Wilson has returned to the classroom though and is currently working on completing her master of science in disability studies from the University of Manitoba. She expects to graduate in fall 2022.