VILA REAL DE SANTO ANTÓNIO, Portugal – The EuroLax Sixes Cup concluded on Sunday after 52 games of action in Portugal with Great Britain winning the men’s competition and the England Red squad winning the women’s competition.
The men’s Great Britain team won the event for the second year in a row, defeating Switzerland, 25-12, in the final to finish with a 5-0 record. Turkey claimed third place with a 16-10 win over Spain.
In the women’s tournament, England sent two teams to compete, with the England Red squad narrowly prevailing over England White in an 11-10 final to cap an unbeaten five-game campaign. Scotland finished third after a 15-8 win over the Germany White squad.
Overall, 1,262 goals were scored in 52 games across both competitions for an average of just over 24 goals per game.
The men’s Great Britain team was led by Ben Page-Laycock with 31 goals in five games played, which led the competition. Page-Laycock also competed for Great Britain at The World Games in July 2022.
Five other players recorded more than 20 goals in the men’s event: Aidan Niklaus (SUI) with 25; Mike Hawkins (POR) with 23; Hakan Atillasoy (TUR) with 23; Casper Bovy (NED) with 22; and Danny Hilditch (GBR) with 20.
Some of the standout matches in the men’s competition included a 12-11 win for Switzerland over Turkey in the Group B finale on Saturday and an 18-17 win for Portugal over the Netherlands in the fifth-place game on Sunday.
In the women’s competition, Hannah Whiteley of Scotland and Catalina Burguera of Spain were tied for the lead atop the goals leaderboard with 20 apiece. Olivia Wimpenny on England Red, Antonia Garbe of Germany Black and Zoe Dickson of Scotland each scored 18 goals.
Eight of the top 10 players on the goals leaderboard competed for their country at the 2022 World Lacrosse Women’s Championship, and Wimpenny competed for Great Britain team at The World Games 2022, as did Emma Oakley on England White and Chess Gray on Scotland.
In addition to the championship decided by one goal, the women’s competition saw close games on the final day in the fifth-place game, a 12-9 win for Wales over the Netherlands, and in the seventh-place game, a 9-8 win for Germany Black over Switzerland.
Another memorable game was the semifinal between England White and Scotland that finished 19-17, with England White scoring the final three goals of the game in the last five minutes to erase a deficit.
The international sixes calendar continues in 2023 with The Fly in the United Kingdom in May and June, the first of four more scheduled events.
Full results from the EuroLax Sixes Cup can be found here.