COQUITLAM, BC – Four games were played in the 2016 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) Under-19 Men’s Lacrosse World Championship presented by Novus on Friday.
7th Place: Ireland 16, Germany 12 – RECAP | PHOTOS
9th Place: China 15, Scotland 9 – RECAP | PHOTOS
11th Place: Hong Kong 13, Korea 4 – RECAP | PHOTOS
13th Place: Mexico 9, Taiwan 4 – RECAP | PHOTOSCanada plays the United States for gold, as the US looks for its eighth tournament victory at the U19 level. The Americans have won every tournament in its history since it began in 1988.
Saturday’s schedule is:
5th Place: Israel vs England, 10 a.m. (Stadium)
Bronze-Medal Game: Iroquois Nationals vs Australia, 1 p.m. (Stadium)
Gold-Medal Game: USA vs Canada, 4 p.m. (Stadium)
Closing Ceremonies will follow
All games can be seen at https://www.worldlax.tv on pay-per-view.
Game Recaps
IRELAND 16, GERMANY 12 – GAME SHEET
Rory Madigan added seven points for Ireland, on three goals and four assists
Ireland completes debut at world juniors with 7th-place showing
A five-goal night from Tom Lyons, including the eventual game-winner, led Ireland to a 16-12 win over Germany in a wild and entertaining seventh-place game. The game featured seven ties and two lead changes, before Ireland put the game away with five goals in the fourth quarter at the 2016 Federation of International Lacrosse Under-19 Men’s Lacrosse World Championship presented by Novus on Friday.
“We just had to keep our heads,” said Ireland midfielder Ruairi Dunbar. “It was very tough mentally, this match was, and we all had to come together, as we’ve done previously in the tournament – as a family – and keep going.”
The Carlow, Ireland, native scored the game’s final goal, his first in international play.
“It was a bit sore,” he said, “But it felt great to get my first Irish goal, especially in a match like that – how intense it was. Just a great feeling.”
Rory Madigan added seven points for Ireland, on three goals and four assists, while Conor Austin also scored three times. A pair from Patrick Magliocchino and singles by Jason Reid and Roan Gideon rounded out the Irish scoring.
For their part, Germany had a balanced attack, with eight different goal scorers. Jeremiah Vanderkin-Jus scored a hat trick, while Soeren Spiegel and Jakob Bockermann each netted pairs. Singles by Lukas Kins, David Beckmann, Finn Post, Kai Sontowski and Per-Anders Olters rounded out the scoring for Germany, who finished seventh at the last U-19 championship in 2012.
John McKeague picked up the win in goal for Ireland, making five saves. Florian Faellenbacher and Mikhail Zinoviev split goalkeeping duties for Germany, combining for eight saves.
Ireland’s Ciaran Lewis was 16-for-24 on faceoffs, while Germany’s Lukas Kins was 7-for-16 and Finn Post was 3-for-10.
Ireland finishes seventh in the first appearance at the U-19 level. They are the hosts of the next championship, to be held in Limerick in July 2020 and will be looking to improve on that finish.
“We just keep building the program of Ireland Lacrosse and just get ready for the next world tournament,” said Dunbar.
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CHINA 15, SCOTLAND 9 – GAME SHEET
Eric Wang controlled the ball for China, winning 19 of 22 faceoffs
China clinches 9th with 15-9 win over Scotland in U19 debut
China rode the strong faceoff play of Eric Wang, who was 19-for-22 on the draws, and a balanced offence en route to a 15-9 win over Scotland to clinch 9th place at the 2016 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) Under-19 Men’s Lacrosse World Championship presented by Novus on Friday.
“We had a great tournament, I thought,” said Coquitlam’s Matthew McIlwrick, who had four goals and three assists in the win. “Everyone came together. We had a lot of practices going into this. We really gelled as a team, I’m really proud of how everyone battled for the whole tournament.”
Other China scoring came from Kevin Dong (4G, 5A), Wang (3G), Martin Ma (2G), Andrew Song (1G) and Henry Hu (1G). Vancouver’s Kurtis Shum added three assists.
After defeating Scotland already in the round-robin, McIlwrick said the Chinese squad had a game-plan in place for the placing game.
“We were changing up the names of our plays a little bit, but other than that we just stuck to China lacrosse: ride hard, get to the middle, work hard and score some goals,” he said. “My teammates were looking for me a little more than usual. Everyone was having their head up and we were all moving the ball well, so that went well.”
It was a special experience for McIlwrick one of several local-area players in the 14-team tournament.
“I love it,” he said. “Some of my buddies showed up today; they’ve shown up the whole tournament. It’s been a great atmosphere around here and I love it.”
McIlwrick will now prepare for school at the University of Pennsylvania in the fall, coached by Pat Myers of Team USA. He said he’s grateful for the experience.
“Just being a teammate, learn from everybody, stay positive and have a good experience,” he said.
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HONG KONG 13, KOREA 4 – GAME SHEET
Samuel Lai makes one of his many stops, finishing 12 of 16 in a strong performance for Hong Kong. Photo: Paul Yates, VSP
Hong Kong captures 11th at first U19 worlds
Hong Kong’s No. 2 goalie Samuel Lai was terrific in the cage, making 12 saves on 16 shots, several from point-blank range as Hong Kong won the 11th-place game 13-4 over Korea on Friday afternoon at Percy Perry Stadium.
“Today was the last game and I didn’t play a lot in previous games because I was our team’s second goalie,” Lai said. “Coach (Scott Browing) gave me the opportunity to do well. I’m happy for us that we won this game.”
Long Fai Ko (3G, 2A) and Matthew Nisbet (3G) led the Hong Kong offence, with Jeremy Cheng (2G, 1A), Andrew Bazarian Jr (1G, 2A), Yu Hong Wu (1G) and Cheuk Hin Lee (1G) rounding out the scoring for Hong Kong.
Korea got a three-goal afternoon from Jooyoung Jang. Joseph Son added a goal and assist.
“I think it’s quite a breakthrough for the Hong Kong guys,” Lai said. “This is the first time Hong Kong has been at the Under-19 world championships – we look forward to good development to come in Hong Kong, we hope it will continue.”
Hong Kong head coach Scott Browning said after months of preparation it was nice to go out with a win in Hong Kong’s first-ever appearance at the FIL U19 worlds.
“The team’s been together for a couple of months, and we’ve been playing amongst ourselves and against sort of local competition. As we’ve come together and been playing against international competition and Canadian high school and a club team has helped them to understand the speed of the game and the competitiveness of the game and little bit more intensity,” Browning said. “And they rose to that challenge. It has taken a few games to get there and appreciate how intense and how aggressive and intense you need to be. They’ve learned how to do that and yesterday (against Scotland) they did that and today it helped as well.”
“We’ve been able to develop lots of guys that are able to shoot and get scoring opportunities,” Browning said of the growth of the Hong Kong program. “One of the things we have is a lot of team speed and we able to get some scoring chances because of it. Our shooting accuracy still needs a bit of improvement but they’re getting their chances and we were able to score a lot of good goals that way.”
The future is a bright one for the Hong Kong program with Browning and company looking ahead.
“The men’s program and U19 prog in Hong Kong has a good solid base. We’ll continue to develop and work with these guys. Our next major goal is the (senior) men’s tournament in 2018 (in Manchester),” Browning said. “We’ve got a good start on a U19 program as well. There will be some good competition for spots two years from now.”
Browning said the experience has been wonderful for the squad and support staff, along with many families who traveled to Coquitlam to take part in the experience.
“I think all of our guys have had a rally great time,” Browning said. “We developed and we have seen what the rest of lacrosse world is about. They players have all enjoyed the Blue Division games and seeing and experiencing lacrosse at the next level up together.”
The Hong Kong team had a chance to practice with Team Canada and play in some controlled scrimmage sets.
“Our guys had a great time and were thrilled to be there,” Browning said. “They stepped up and played well. We didn’t shy away and were not nervous. And the Canadian guys did great job of being ambassadors of sport. Our guys did well and stood up.”
“I think it’s the level of lacrosse that stands out from this experience,” Lai said. “To watch the USA, Canadian and Iroquois and practice with Canada has been amazing. And to watch a showcase of the highest level of lacrosse has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Browning of Victoria, B.C., said this was an unforgettable experience.
“I have been very fortunate throughout my lacrosse career to compete and coach at this level, and to be able to participate in this tournament in my home province with friends and family around is pretty special and I’m really happy to bring Hong Kong to it.”
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MEXICO 9, TAIWAN 4 – GAME SHEET
Alec Gastony, one of the Mexico’s goalkeepers, played on attack and scored five goals.
Photo: Paul Yates, VSP
Mexico saves best for last, as Gastony scores five in win over Taiwan for 13th
COQUITLAM, BC – Mexico won its first game of the tournament with a 9-4 victory over Taiwan for 13th place at the 2016 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) Under-19 Men’s Lacrosse World Championships presented by Novus.
Alec Gastony, one of the team’s goalkeepers in the tournament, played out at attack and led the Green Machine with five goals. The Denver-based Adam State University product was a major factor in Mexico’s growth and success throughout the week.
“Honestly, I’m just proud,” Gastony said. “I’m so proud of this team. I just couldn’t be happier that this group of guys pulled it together and decided to come
[together] as one.”
“What happened, when we first played Taiwan, one of our players, Adolfo Castro, he got hit in the neck and compressed the discs in his back. I had played middie before in high school, just here and there, and Adolfo is one of my closest friends on the team, so it was like, Coach Ozzie [Osvaldo Diaz ] turned around and was like ‘Do you want to go in attack? We’ve got no other subs’, and I was sitting out anyways because Omar [Bueno] was killing it, so I hopped on and all that was going through my mind was ‘Let’s go, team!'”
Other Mexico scoring came from Tlaloc Orozco-Cohen (2G, 3A) and Martin Vallebona (2G). Felix Omar Vargas Bueno made seven saves for the win.
“I’ve never met a group of guys that are like this, to be honest,” Gastony added. “There’s nothing but love and pride in each one of them. Every single game, no matter how bad the loss was, they were always ready for the next day and ready to continue trying as hard as they could.”
For Taiwan, Yu-Hung Hu scored twice, with single goals coming from Hung-Wei Liang and Chi-En Li.
This was the first Under-19 men’s lacrosse tournament at the FIL level for both squads. Both teams ended the event with a win, a major sign of growth for both teams. The teams also played on July 11 in an unforgettable game that went to seven overtimes before Taiwan won 8-7.
2016WorldLax Media Contact:
Andy Watson / andy.watson@2016worldlax.com / 778-679-5667
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Founded in 1867, the Canadian Lacrosse Association (CLA) is the governing body responsible for all aspects of lacrosse in Canada. Our organization is comprised of 10 Member Associations representing nearly 80,000 individual participants, including coaches, officials, and athletes of all ages and abilities. The CLA’s mission is to honour the sport of lacrosse and its unique nation-building heritage, by engaging our members, leading our partners, and providing opportunities for all Canadians to participate. We strive to accomplish this while adhering to our core values of health, excellence, accountability, respect and teamwork. The CLA oversees the delivery of numerous national championships and the participation of Team Canada at all international events sanctioned by the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL). The CLA is proud to be affiliated with partners that share the same vision and values, including our corporate partners – Warrior Sports, New Balance Athletics, Westjet, and Baron Rings – as well as our funding partners the Government of Canada, the Coaching Association of Canada, and the Canadian Lacrosse Foundation. For more information on Canadian Lacrosse Association and the sport of lacrosse, visit our website at www.lacrosse.ca and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
