NETANYA, ISRAEL – The FIL Men’s World Championship has only been won by two countries – United States (9 times) and Canada (3 times). Both countries have been in the top six-team Blue Division that features the top returners from the prior World Championship. Sunday’s performances from defending champion Canada and the United States could be remarkable when these two face-off at 7 p.m.
On Saturday, Canada cruised by Scotland, 22-3, and the United States stormed by Australia, 19-1. The power duo combined for 41 goals, only allowing four goals today.
The United States started off quick winning the opening face-off and passing the ball quickly up the right side for a goal by Kevin Unterstein 15 seconds into the game, the first of 14 unanswered goals for Team USA. This scoring frenzy saw Jordan Wolf, Marcus Holman, and Thomas Schreiber each score a pair of goals. The United States easily won over Australia, 19-1.
The defensive play for the United States was superlative keeping the Australian attackers on the outside of the pitch for most of the game, only letting the Aussies have 19 shots on goal.
“We wanted to come out in the first possession and start strong with lots of intensity,” said Tucker Durkin. “In the first game we did not put our best foot forward. Our goal for today was to start with a high level of intensity and build off of it throughout the game. We just like to talk about one possession at a time. Just stay in the present and don’t worry about what the score is and focus on every single possession and the little details.”
Team USA shot 49 times in the game. Ryan Brown, Schreiber, Wolf, and Holman finished with individual hat tricks. John Haus also had two goals.
Canada, the defending champions, turned on the gas in its game this afternoon cruising to a 22-3 win over Scotland. The Canadians did not allow a goal in the game until the fourth quarter at the 60-minute mark. Scotland was limited to just 13 shots in 80 minutes. Canada’s starting goalie was perfect in the cage, and Brennan Donville allowed three goals in 30 minutes of play in the second half.
Canada spread the wealth in scoring with 10 players finding the net. Mark Cockerton and Curtis Dickson each scored four goals, with the duo of Ben McIntosh and Kevin Crowley scoring three times each. A pair of goals came from Joshua Byrne and Tre Leclaire.
Sunday starts the pool crossover matches for the remaining 14 three-team pools. The Blue division will finish its pool play on Tuesday, July 17. Teams compete in a total of six to eight games each during the 10-day event, with all teams playing to a final placement. 2018 FIL Men’s World Championship schedule. The pool results can be found here.
Notes from the 2018 FIL Men’s World Championship:
- July 13 – Japan’s victory over Norway, 24-3, is the most goals scored by a team at the 2018 FIL Men’s World Championship.
- July 13 – James Burleson-Porras of Peru scored eight goals for the win over Turkey, 18-11. Burleson-Porras has scored the most individual goals in one game of the 2018 FIL Men’s World Championship so far.
- July 13 – Greece’s Nate Lewnes scored seven goals against Mexico for the win, 13-8, and the second most goals scored in one game by an athlete at the 2018 FIL Men’s World Championship.
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 links is here.
To follow the 2018 FIL Men’s World Championship, and get the most recent content from FIL’s FanHub that provides one location for fans to see and read all the content written about the 2018 FIL Men’s World Championship visit the www.fanhub.worldlacrosse.sport. 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.
2018 FIL Men’s World Championship
Netanya, Israel, July 11-21
Wingate National Sport Institute and Netanya Stadium
Results:
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
