Rachel Vallarelli guesses most girls don’t ask to spend their 16th birthday at a National Lacrosse League game.

Seeing the indoor version of lacrosse changed the course of Vallarelli’s life, as she prepares to be the first woman to play in the Arena Lacrosse League in Ontario.

Vallarelli’s lacrosse career has taken her from UMass to the United Women’s Lacrosse League to the Boston Box Lacrosse League to the NLL combine and more — and now she gets a chance to develop more as an indoor goalie in Canada.

It all started with a New York Titans game.

“I don’t think many girls ask to do that for their sweet 16,” she said.

Originally interested in hockey — she’s a huge fan of the New York Rangers and goalie Henrik Lundqvist — Vallarelli set her sights on field lacrosse when she was 13. But she was captivated by the box game in her older teens, even getting an invite to the U-20s men’s team after she got started.

She was good at field lacrosse, enough so to play at UMass, but box was always her fit.

“I wanted to play hockey,” she said. “But my mom wanted a daughter with teeth.”

Vallarelli played softball growing up, and soccer goalie, but when she started playing field lacrosse, her coordination didn’t feel right.

“I asked my coach if there was a longer stick I could use,” said Vallarelli, who started playing field lacrosse as a midfielder. “They said, ‘well, at goalie.’ I came home and told my mom I was the goalie, she was like, ‘you’re the what? Who do I need to call? There’s no way.’ But it just kind of stuck.”

Vallarelli fell in love with goaltending. From soccer, she understood how the position was generally played. She committed to play at UMass, where she led the Minutewomen to a 19-2 record and was the nation’s top goalie as a senior.

Before that, she discovered box lacrosse, and just had to be a part of it.

“I was like, I want to get more involved in box but didn’t know where to do it,” she said. “Boston Box Lacrosse League came up, but I didn’t have gear so it wasn’t an opportunity three years ago.”

When she was a college coach in California, they ordered box gear for their players to practice, and that’s when she finally got the opportunity.

There’s a precedent of women playing indoor men’s lacrosse; Ginny Capicchioni is the only woman to start an NLL game in net, and she also played in the North American Lacrosse League and various other leagues across North America.

Vallarelli is hoping to follow a similar path.

“I’m a big visualization, if you dream it, you can do it, if you believe it and all that kind of stuff,” she said. “I can really see myself playing in the NLL. I think I could be a starter.”

Traditionally, indoor lacrosse goalies have nearly always been Canadian, with no developmental league in the U.S., making that a tough path. With the league expanding to 13 teams and looking to go bigger, more players will get opportunities.

The ALL has been a developmental league for the NLL, and since she attended the combine, Vallarelli appears to be on the NLL’s radar now, too.