The 2024 World Lacrosse Box Championships are set for September 20-29 in Utica, New York with 28 teams competing in the men’s box championship, split into seven pools. Eight teams advance directly to the playoffs after pool play and teams seeded 9-16 will compete in a play-in round.
The full schedule for the championship can be found here.
Pool F: Australia, Slovakia, Puerto Rico, Hungary
Pool F is one of the most varied groups in Utica, with the strongest historical performer from Asia in Australia appearing alongside an experienced European team in Slovakia and two first-time participants in Puerto Rico and Hungary.
Australia has finished in the top ten in each edition of the men’s box championship with a ninth place finish in 2019. Slovakia has made three appearances in the event, finishing as high as eighth place in 2011 and taking 13th place in the last edition.
Puerto Rico has posted strong results in recent field lacrosse events with back-to-back top-ten finishes in men’s championships in 2018 and 2013, but this will be its first international box competition.
Hungary is also making its first ever appearance in the box championship.
Tickets for all games of the box championships are available here.
Hungary has not competed in international box events, but a group of its players played at the 2022 LAXNAI and finished in 15th place.
A group of 10 players also represented the Budapest Stags in club box competition at the 2023 Frank Menscher Cup.
Dylan Portnoy, Nathan Twisk and Peter Gudmundsen are some of the most productive forwards from that squad suiting up in Utica. Goalkeeper Laszlo Bajnoczy is also in the squad.
Hungary also has a mix of players with collegiate experience, led by Drew Lukcas, who played at Boston University, and Gudmundsen, who played at Princeton.
Defensemen John and Ryan Zsamboky are brothers and John currently is gearing up for his first season of field lacrosse at the University of Florida in 2025.
Puerto Rico returns back a small core of players from its last two field lacrosse men’s championships, with six athletes from the 2023 team and five athletes from the 2018 team suiting up in Utica.
Steven Ramirez and Will Ramos will be some of the forwards to watch with collegiate experience at the University of Albany.
Goalkeeper Michael Riomao is expected to start, and at age 17, is the youngest player to ever represent Puerto Rico at the senior men’s level.
Roman and Cameron Lao-Gosney, twin brothers, are both making their Puerto Rico debuts in transition and enjoyed productive field lacrosse collegiate careers at Lehigh University. Both grew up playing hockey and did not start playing lacrosse until high school.
Anthony Irizarry, who represented Puerto Rico in 2018, has three years of box lacrosse experience in the North American Box Lacrosse League.
Slovakia is another veteran European team with multiple players returning from past men’s box championships. Twelve players are returning from the squad that finished in 13th place in 2019 and eight players competed in 2011.
Sixteen players are also returning from the team that placed fifth at the 2022 European Box Lacrosse Championship in Hannover, Germany, with wins over Poland, Austria, Scotland and Switzerland.
Ten players also played in the Frank Menscher Cup in 2023 against other clubs as Team Slovakia. Many players on the team also compete for the club Bratislava Bats, which won the Slovak Box Lacrosse League in 2023.
Alec Simons, Simon Thomay and Denis Englis were all productive forwards in Hannover that will suit up again in Utica.
Lee Jackman and Branislav Adam will be the two goalkeepers.
Jackson Suboch will be an essential figure on defense and has played multiple years of box lacrosse in the NLL, and is currently on the Vancouver Warriors. He played 11 games in 2023 for Las Vegas and also enjoyed four years of experience in the Ontario Junior Lacrosse League for the Mimico Mountaineers.
Australia is looking for another top ten finish with its core of players developed at Australian lacrosse clubs that have multiple world championships of experience.
Seven players return from the 2019 team that finished ninth in Langley, including defenseman Keith Nyberg, who has suited up for Australia in seven previous World Lacrosse championships dating back to 2006.
Forward Jesse Whinnen is suiting up in his fourth box championship as well, and registered 43 points in Australia’s 2019 campaign.
Colin Jeffrey is expected to the lead the way in net and was drafted by the Las Vegas Desert Dogs in the 2022 NLL Draft. He also has experience in the Western Lacrosse Association with the Victoria Shamrocks and the BCJALL with the Nanaimo Timbermen.
“We had a major focus on filling certain positions with players with attributes that met the requirements of those positions” said head coach Adam Smith. “A tricky part in building a world level team from those that play in the domestic competition is trying to find the right position for each player while also selecting the best overall group. We believe we’ve done just that and have set ourselves up for a great tournament in September.”
Games to Watch
Saturday, September 21: Australia vs. Slovakia, 10:45 a.m., Utica University Nexus Center 2
Australia will have one game under its belt before its second match against a Slovakia team getting its first taste of the action. The two teams finished within four spots of each other 2019 and both have plenty of box lacrosse veterans on their roster, which should make for an intense battle.
Saturday, September 21: Hungary vs. Puerto Rico, 2:30 p.m., Utica University Nexus Center 1
Hungary and Puerto Rico, the two first-time participants in the pool, meet each other on day two of action with a lot to prove. In a pool where the playoff spots are all open, this matchup will go a long way in determining which debutant can push for the next round.
Monday, September 23: Slovakia vs. Puerto Rico 1 p.m., Adirondack Bank Center
The final day of pool play should see plenty of playoff drama in Pool F, with Australia and Hungary kicking off their match just 45 minutes after the start of this one. All four teams could be in the hunt, and this clash will pit a European box stalwart against an up-and-coming North American field program trying to make the jump to box, which should make for good viewing.
