FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEPhoto Credit: Michael Hazy of @phantomlacrosse
July 16, 2018
NETANYA, ISRAEL – The game of the day was a matchup contest between the Queens countries of England and Australia, where four ties were reached, and Australia coming from behind with a Mitchell Kennedy goal to win, 7-6. It was day six of the 2018 FIL Men’s World Championship from the Wingate Sports Institute where most of the games are contested, July 11-20. The gold-medal game is set for July 21 at Netanya Stadium.
James Lawerson started the final three-goal run in the third quarter, still leaving Australia down, 6-5. Christopher Robertson tied the game at 6-6 in the first two minutes of the fourth.
The excitement of this game came down to the goalie play from both teams Sean Aaron and Ryan Spark of Australia, and William Baxter of England. The stat line is impressive for the trio of goals. England outshot Australia, 33-31. The save percentages were Aaron (70 percent), Spark (67 percent) and Baxter (63 percent).
“Ryan (Spark) set the tone of the game today, we are extremely close and have a lot of similarities and it was a huge win for us today,” said Aaron. “The fans here travel better than anyone else and traveled a long way to be here for us. It was really great having them here chanting for us, especially in the last minute of the game.”
James Lawerson of Australia and Ryan Hunns of England each scored two goals. Australia improved to 2-2 in the Blue Division pool play, while England dropped to 1-3.
The other Blue Division game of day that had huge implications was between Canada and Iroquois Nationals. Canada defeated the Iroquois Nationals, 10-5, and improved to a 3-1 record, while the Iroquois Nationals dropped to 2-2 in pool play.
Curtis Dickson put two in the cage to start an 8-2 run for Canada against the Iroquois Nationals and never relinquished the lead to win 10-5. Canada, who only had 32 attempts on goal, were very stingy defensively. Canada’s goalie Dillon Ward was almost perfect minding the cage as he was peppered 51 times and had an 83 percent save percentage for the night. Three other Canadians had two-goal performances: Wesley Berg, Mark Cockerton, and Ben McIntosh.
“We knew they were a very tough team and we had to play a very disciplined game today, especially after coming off a loss to the U.S. last night,” said Cockerton. “I feel like our defense played really well tonight, and even against the U.S. for that matter. We do a lot of film and in training camp we did a lot of film so we are extremely well prepared.”
The Iroquois outshot Canada, 51-32, and attempted 32 shots in the first half. Randy Staats scored two goals for the Iroquois Nationals.
Tuesday, July 17, will bring close to the Blue Division pool play. Australia and Canada will meet at 2:30 p.m., England and the USA faceoff at 6 p.m., and Scotland vs. Iroquois Nationals will be played at 6:45 p.m.
Other Key Game Summaries From Monday, July 16:
New Zealand def. Hong Kong, 11-9
It appeared that New Zealand was going to run away with an easy victory over Hong Kong this afternoon, as they built a 10-3 lead with eight minutes left in the third. The last 26:10 of the game belonged to Hong Kong who outscored New Zealand, 6-1. Hong Kong’s Stephen O’Brien scored two of his four goals in the second half. The Zumi’s won 11-9. New Zealand’s insurmountable lead was established by Tim Brebner’s hat trick and two goals by Jeremy Kincaid.
USA def. Scotland, 18-2
Ryan Brown scored six goals, and was joined by seven other Americans with multiple goals to defeat Scotland, 18-2, and remain a perfect 4-0 and atop the Blue Division. Thomas Schreiber earned a hat trick for USA, and three others had two goals each.
The 2018 FIL Men’s World Championship preliminary competition is set from July 11-16, with pool finals and crossover competition starting on July 15. After 169 games of competition, the 2018 FIL Men’s World Championship gold medalist will be crowned on July 21 at Netanya Stadium. Tickets for the World Championship may be purchased at www.worldlacrosse2018.com/tickets.
The majority of the World Championship will be held at Wingate National Sport Institution’s six competition fields. With the limited capacity, the venue will provide an electric atmosphere for the World Championship, with sell-out crowds anticipated.
ESPN and ESPN+ will broadcast the games in the United States from start to finish with 10 days of play on ESPN2 and ESPNU for 14 games, and more than 160 games available on the ESPN+, the first-ever multi-sport, direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service. The FIL Men’s World Championship will also be available in Canada on TSN and locally in Israel on Sport 5. Fans will be able to watch the games in more than 50 countries. The FIL Men’s World Championship Broadcast schedule and link is here.
To follow the 2018 FIL Men’s World Championship, and get the most recent content from FIL’s FanHubthat provides one location for fans to see and read all the content written about the 2018 FIL Men’s World Championship. Content will be featured from media outlets, social media channels, the World Championship host site as well as original content from FIL’s media services team.
The FIL Men’s World Championship started in 1967 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where the United States defeated Australia for its first of nine World Championship gold medals. In 1974, the second World Championship was held in Melbourne, Australia, with the United States claiming the title. Since then, the event has been held every four years.
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2018 FIL Men’s World Championship
Netanya, Israel, July 11-21
Wingate National Sport Institute and Netanya Stadium
Results:
Monday, July 16
Latvia def. Sweden, 13-9
Denmark def. Peru, 11-4
Ireland def. Italy, 15-7
France def. Uganda, 14-5
Bermuda def. Luxembourg, 17-2
Israel def. Philippines, 11-8
Mexico def. China, 15-14
Belgium def. Turkey, 11-8
Japan def. Finland, 15-5
New Zealand def. Hong Kong, 11-9
Hungary def. Croatia, 15-3
Australia def. England, 7-6
Wales def. Netherlands, 9-5
Jamaica def. Slovakia, 12-5
Puerto Rico def. Germany, 14-9
Canada def. Iroquois Nationals, 10-5
Austria def. Poland, 12-8
Greece def. Argentina, 12-9
USA def. Scotland, 18-2
Sunday, July 15
Finland def. Norway, 11-9
Russia def. Luxembourg, 24-1
Turkey def. China, 13-12
Germany def. Hong Kong, 12-4
Puerto Rico def. New Zealand, 13-1
Korea def. Mexico, 9-6
Philippines def. Switzerland, 11-5
Jamaica def. Peru, 17-4
Italy def. Sweden, 13-11
Ireland def. Latvia, 12-7
Wales def. Uganda, 17-1
England def. Scotland, 11-8
Belgium def. Colombia, 7-6
Slovakia def. Denmark, 8-5
Argentina def. Czech Republic, 12-8
Hungary def. Bermuda, 7-6
USA def. Canada, 11-10
Iroquois Nationals def. Australia, 16-9
Austria def. Spain, 12-10
Croatia def. Chinese Taipei, 7-6
Saturday, July 14
Hong Kong def. Uganda, 16-1
Japan def. Netherlands, 18-3
Finland def. Colombia, 20-4
Latvia def. Greece, 10-9, OT
Poland def. Luxembourg, 15-6
New Zealand def. Croatia, 16-2
USA def. Australia, 19-1
Germany def. France, 15-4
Sweden def. Hungary, 16-6
Ireland def. Denmark, 14-3
Philippines def. Belgium, 11-4
Switzerland def. Chinese TaiPei, 17-1
Canada def. Scotland, 22-3
Puerto Rico def. Bermuda, 17-3
Italy def. Peru, 13-7
Iroquois Nationals def. England, 18-7
Israel def. Russia, 19-2
Friday, July 13
Greece def. Mexico, 13-8
Austria def. Colombia, 13-7
Uganda def. Luxembourg, 7-6
Spain def. Croatia, 12-9
Japan def. Norway, 24-3
Hong Kong def. Poland, 9-7
Jamaica def. Russia, 17-7
Denmark def. China, 14-4
Australia def. Scotland, 18-6
France def. Korea, 10-6
Argentina def. Hungary, 14-6
Puerto Rico def. Wales, 16-4
Canada def. England, 12-6
Slovakia def. Chinese Taipei, 13-1
Peru def. Turkey, 18-11
Philippines def. Czech Republic, 11-6
Thursday, July 12
Germany def. Korea, 19-5
Poland def. Uganda, 16-4
Switzerland def. Slovakia, 10-6
Norway def. Netherlands, 14-6
New Zealand def. Spain, 9-5
Ireland def. China, 18-3
Latvia def. Mexico, 13-10
Italy def. Turkey, 16-8
Sweden def. Argentina, 13-5
Wales def. Bermuda, 8-4
Finland def. Austria, 11-7
Czech Republic def. Belgium, 15-8
Israel def. Jamaica, 11-3
USA def. Iroquois Nationals, 17-9
Wednesday, July 11
Hong Kong def. Luxembourg, 20-1
FIL Men’s World Championship History
Year – Teams (gold def. silver), Score, Location
2014 – Canada def. USA, 8-5, Denver, Colorado, USA
2010 – USA def. Canada, 12-10, Manchester, England
2006 – Canada def. USA, 15-10, London, Ontario, Canada
2002 – USA def. Canada, 18-15, Perth, Australia
1998 – USA def. Canada, 15-14 (OT), Baltimore, Maryland, USA
1994 – USA def. Australia, 21-7, Manchester, England
1990 – USA def. Canada, 19-15, Perth, Australia
1986 – USA def. Canada, 18-9, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1982 – USA def. Australia, 22-14, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
1978 – Canada def. USA, 17-16 (OT), Stockport, England
1974 – USA, Three-way tie for 2nd, Melbourne, Australia
1967 – USA def. Australia, 25-11, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
