Boston Guard attacker Andie Aldave and Maryland Charm defender Abby Bosco were two of 12 WLL players to suit up against Cross Crosse and its specially selected Japanese lacrosse players on March 15 in Tokyo, with the Americans defeating the Japanese team 20-10 in an exhibition match.

Alongside Aldave and Bosco, the Guard's Dempsey Arsenault; Charm's Lizzie Colson and Paulina DiFatta; California Palms' Kait Devir, Ally Mastroianni and Sammy Jo Tracy; New York Charging's Erin Coykendall, Emily Hawryschuk and Izzy Scane; and Megan Kinna represented the WLL abroad.

The trip to Tokyo — the host city of the 2026 World Lacrosse Women's Championship, the first to be hosted by the country since 1997 — was about more than a singular game for Aldave and Bosco. Both made sure to save plenty of time for other bits and bites.

Follow them through a couple of days in Japan, through their own points of view.

March 14: Clinics, dumplings and Google Translate, as told by Bosco

We finished our scrimmage with Team South Australia around 2 p.m. local time at Oi Stadium in Shinagawa, Japan, and the team was so kind and gave us goody bags of their favorite Australian snacks!

We were still at Oi Stadium around 5 p.m. when one of my favorite parts of the trip to Japan happened. We got to spread our love and knowledge of the game with the young lacrosse players in Japan! It was so fun getting to take pictures and communicate with them after the clinic! (The second photo shows us using Google Translate to communicate with one another.)

The last — but certainly not least — stop of the day was post-scrimmage and -clinic dinner with the team in Shibuya, Japan. This dinner was SO good. The ramen and dumplings here were probably my favorite meal of the trip!

March 15: Gameday, as told by Aldave

At 11 a.m., I stopped by Tully's Coffee in Tokyo with Lizzie Colson, Ally Mastroianni and Meg Kinna for our gameday juice! The matcha here is amazing so I went with that instead of my usual coffee order. It's been so fun getting to catch up and share this amazing experience with the girls on this trip.

By 2 p.m. the team was at Fujitsu Stadium in Kawasaki, Japan, for the game. Ally and I are on this trip together for the second year in a row. It's so special to be sharing these memories with her. I got to play with her for one year at North Carolina, where we won the national championship together. I never take for granted getting to put on the same jersey as her and do our favorite thing together! We are roommates on this trip so we had to get our annual locker-room selfie.

After our game, we stayed to watch the PLL men play the Sekai men's team. It was so amazing to see the entire stadium filled with fans. The PLL came out firing and put on a show for everyone! We got to hang out with the girls we just played against as well — it was a full-circle moment for everyone. What a night under the lights! The PLL/WLL crushed it.