Dawson Chalifoux can’t wait to trade the rainy B.C. days for the California sunshine.
Chalifoux will play her collegiate field lacrosse career with NCAA Division 1 Fresno State University in Fresno, CA. The highly touted player is the second Mission girl to commit and sign with a Division 1 school, after Shonly Wallace signed with Stony Brook University in New York.
Chalifoux officially signed with the program on Wednesday, April 19, and says it becomes more of a reality with each passing day.
“Now that I’ve signed and everything, it’s sunk in a little bit more,” Chalifoux said. “I’ve been talking to my roommate a lot and she’s told me a lot about her practices.
“When I get down there for summer camp, I think it will feel more real.”
She was recruited as both an attack and midfielder, and plays in the same mold as many other Canadian girls who have had a lot of success in the American game. She says she’s coming to Fresno with the intention of playing right away, despite there being a number of freshman and sophomore players in the Bulldogs’ lineup.
“Fresno is an up-and-coming team, and their freshmen are scoring a lot of goals,” she said. “So going there, I want to be a player who makes a difference. I want to put the ball in the net lots.”
A Team BC standout who grew up playing much of her box and field lacrosse with boys for the Mission Sasquatch, Chalifoux will study education at Fresno State.
She talked to several schools during her recruitment, including Hartford in Connecticut, but ultimately chose to stay on the west coast because of how hard they recruited her.
“They got out to my games and came to watch them all,” she said. “Then they told me all sorts of cool things that they do, like getting to pick your song when you score.”
She also admits it was hard to turn away the location, both because of its proximity to B.C. and luxuries like the sunny weather.
“It feels like home.”