Drew Morris, Eden Chajmovic Awarded 2025 Mort & Judy Beroza Man & Woman of the Year

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Drew Morris and Eden Chajmovic are the 2025 Mort and Judy Beroza Man and Woman of the Year.

Each year, the Israel Lacrosse Association recognizes one man and one woman for their incredible achievements, dedication, and impact to the growth and development of lacrosse in Israel. Morris and Chajmovic’s outstanding individual works have earned them this immutable distinction for 2025.

Drew Morris

Few have done more to impact lacrosse in Israel over the last four years than Drew Morris.

In 2021, Morris got his first taste of Israel – the ILA’s Birthright lacrosse trip. That summer forever altered the NCAA national champion’s path.

Within 16 months, Morris was living in Israel and stepping into a critical role at the ILA. Since bringing his life to Israel in 2022, Morris has played in three tournaments with the Senior Men’s National Team, served on the Israel coaching staff for two major U20 men’s tournaments and one U13 boys’ tournament, and completely revamped how high-performance lacrosse is approached in Israel.

In 2025, Morris returned to the U.S., but he’s far from done with Israel Lacrosse. He remains the Men’s Programming Director, and he continues to coordinate, recruit, and forge the future for the Blue-and-White. His departure from the country presented the ILA with the perfect opportunity to honor his countless contributions during his time in Israel.

“From excelling as the starting goalie for the men’s national team to recruiting young men to come experience our programming in the country, he has done everything in his power to move the organization forward,” ILA Executive Director Ian Kadish said of Drew Morris. “He has jumped in and done everything he could. In appreciation and recognition for what he has done, Drew more than deserves this award. I feel incredibly lucky to have the honor of both working and playing with him.”

Morris has been a rock in net for the Senior Men’s National Team for years. He started between the sticks for the Blue-and-White at the three, helping Israel achieve seventh at the 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship, fifth at the 2024 World Lacrosse Box Championship, and gold at the 2025 European Lacrosse Men’s Championship in what will forever remain one of the greatest accomplishments in Israel Lacrosse history. Individually, Morris also earned the Heart and Spirit of Lacrosse Award at the 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship and was named to the All-Europe Team at the 2025 European Lacrosse Men’s Championship.

Those on-field successes stemmed from years spent playing college lacrosse at Maryland, the years leading up to that, and everything that comes with growing in elite environments. All that exposure allowed Morris to propel Israel forward from the sidelines, too.

“My approach to coaching the U20 group was grounded in my experience playing at the highest level of college lacrosse, and in applying those lessons to the group,” he explained. “In practice, this was me introducing new drills, emphasizing strength and conditioning, and enabling players with the tools to push themselves out of their comfort zones. I held the players to a high standard, and the group not only met it but continued to raise the bar through their commitment and buy-in to my coaching.”

Now back in the U.S., Drew Morris has moved into a full-time programming and sales role, leveraging his years of service in Israel to explain to future participants and their families what the ILA has done for him and what it could do for them.

“It is an incredible honor to win this award, and I am grateful for all of the members of the ILA community and those who have worn the Blue-and-White before me by showing me the right way to do things,” Morris said. “A lot of people, from my family to coaches to teammates and co-workers, have helped me get to where I am today and become the person I am today. Winning this award is due to all of them and what I have been able to learn from those who came before me.”

Eden Chajmovic

Eden Chajmovic’s life trajectory altered in 2022.

In spring of that year, the then-14-year-old decided to give lacrosse a go – many of her field hockey friends were trying it out, and she didn’t want to skip a beat. The sport snatched her fast, and as a freshman, she quickly grew into her high school’s varsity starter between the sticks.

“I immediately fell in love with the sport, but more importantly with being a goalie,” she said.

That summer, Chajmovic seized another lacrosse opportunity and crossed the Atlantic to participate in the ILA’s Summer Service Trip. That’s when it all came together.

That exposure to Israel compelled Chajmovic to make the Aliyah leap in the summer of 2023, joining members of her extended family already long living in the Holy Land. She settled in a small kibbutz in the Gaza Envelope, spending three months living and learning there before a trip home to Cleveland for the High Holidays. Her flight back to Israel was scheduled for October 7, 2023.

That flight did not occur. Chajmovic’s kibbutz was one of the many attacked on that day, and she was forced to remain in America for the next couple of years as she finished out high school in Ohio. She finally completed her Aliyah in the summer of 2025 after graduating from high school and was recently drafted into the IDF. Her commitment to the state of Israel is one reason responsible for the ILA’s recognition through this award.

What she has given Israel Lacrosse retains the rest of the responsibility. Chajmovic represented Israel at the 2023 U21 European Lacrosse Women’s Championship in Prague, the 2024 U20 Women’s Championship in Hong Kong, and the 2025 Women’s European Sixes Championship in Portugal, putting her among a select group of players to play in major international tournaments for the Blue-and-White at both the junior and senior levels.

“The biggest shock to me about moving from the U20 team to the senior national team in such a short time was that I was playing alongside girls who had me outnumbered with years and experience of lacrosse, while this was only my third year playing,” she explained. “It was definitely a change in intensity compared to the U20 team, but I took it as an opportunity to improve and soak in as much information about the game that I could. Throughout the tournament in Portugal, I kept thinking to myself, ‘Wow, I’m on the same team as my coach. How did this happen?’”

According to Rachel Rosen, the Director of Women’s Lacrosse, Social Media, and Aliyah Coordinator at the ILA, as well as a player and coach for the organization, Chajmovic’s intangibles are a major reason why she has seen so much international lacrosse action at such a young age.

“I had the rare privilege of both coaching and playing alongside Eden, and there is truly no one who better understands what it means to be a great teammate,” Rosen said. “She is selfless, supportive, and constantly striving to be the best version of herself while lifting everyone around her. Israel Lacrosse is incredibly lucky to have someone like Eden in our women’s program.”

For all that Chajmovic has done for the ILA, she feels it right back. She experienced severe loss on October 7, and what Israel Lacrosse has provided her has been critical, she said.

“Throughout it all, I felt 100% supported,” Chajmovic explained. “I’m so grateful to call everyone that’s part of the ILA my family. To have a community that I share a passion with is something that has really kept me going when times are tough. Being an ambassador for the State of Israel is a great honor, let alone in times of war.”