LIMERICK, Ireland – The United States captured the gold medal here today at the 2022 World Lacrosse Men’s U21 Championship, powering past Canada, 12-10, led by a five-goal effort from CJ Kirst. Earlier in the day, the Haudenosaunee won the bronze medal with a 10-6 victory over Australia.
The United States overcame its northerly rival, 12-10, as the Canadians stayed within three goals the entire game and clawed back to within one with just over two minutes to play. Patrick Kavanagh responded with a goal – his fourth point of the game – with 1:44 remaining to seal the victory for the United States.
The United States has now won the gold medal in all nine editions of the men’s championship at the junior level, dating back to 1988. The USA squad finished another undefeated tournament as well, going 7-0.
Canada garnered the silver medal for the sixth time in the event. Graydon Hogg scored three goals and Owen Hiltz added two goals and an assist.
In the bronze medal game, Trey Deere led the offense for the Haudenosaunee with three goals and an assist, while Gregory Elijah-Brown added a goal and two assists. Midfielder Aidan Fearn recorded a goal and an assist, and importantly won 17 of his 18 face-offs. Goalkeeper Jack VanValkenburgh made eight saves on 14 shots and finished his time in Limerick with 77 total saves, tied for the second-most in the tournament.
The Haudenosaunee started the game on a 6-0 run and never looked back enroute to avenging a 13-7 loss to Australia in pool play. The bronze medal is the Haudenosaunee’s fourth in the event and fourth in a row, dating back to 2008.
Japan outlasted England in a 7-6 double overtime thriller to claim fifth place in one of the most dramatic games of the tournament. Japan led 6-3 early in the fourth quarter, but England scored three in a row in the final five minutes to tie the game with the last goal coming with 44 seconds to play. After five minutes of overtime, Rinta Fujioka scored the winning goal 53 seconds into the second sudden victory period. Sota Hakozaki notched three points on two goals and an assist.
Japan’s fifth place finish tied its best-ever result from 1996, though there were only five teams in that edition. Japan is the first team outside of this year’s Pool A teams to finish in the top five of the event since it did so in 1996. It was also Japan’s first appearance in this event since 2008.
England finished sixth, as goalkeeper Jack Allen made 12 saves on 17 shots and midfielder Daniel Madeley won 12 of 19 face-offs.
Ireland closed out its host campaign with a rousing 12-11 comeback win against Puerto Rico to capture seventh place. Ireland led 9-6 with just under 20 minutes to play, but Puerto Rico reeled off a 5-0 run to lead by two with 8:30 remaining. Ireland scored the last three goals of the game, tying the game with 1:32 remaining and landing the final blow just 18 seconds later to secure a 12-11 win.
Conor Foley tied the game and finished with five goals and two assists to end with the fifth most goals in the tournament at 23. Aidan Dempsey added three goals, including the game winner, and an assist, while Sean Horkan also scored a hat trick.
Puerto Rico finished its first appearance at the event in eighth place. Owen Fasulka registered three goals and an assist, while Colin Baez won 20 out of 26 face-offs.
Jamaica pulled away from Israel with four goals in the last 11 minutes of the game to win 8-4. Jamaica finished ninth in its first ever appearance in the event. Stone Evans recorded four points on a goal and three assists, while Joshua McLaughlin recorded another hat trick. Midfielder Owen Stephenson became the third player in the tournament to post a perfect win percentage on 10 or more face-offs after winning 15 of 15.
Israel finished 10th in its second appearance in the event. Benjamin Friedman made nine saves and finished with 69 saves total, the sixth highest total among all goalkeepers.
The Czech Republic staged an improbable comeback to stun Germany, 11-10, in overtime to finish 11th . Germany led 9-7 with under eight minutes to play and after the Czechs rallied to tie the game with five minutes left, Germany took the lead once more with 1:44 remaining. The Czech Republic tied the game with 11 seconds left and went on to win in overtime with a goal from Pavel Srch.
Tomáš Knotek delivered a seven-point outing with four goals and three assists, while Jan Fišer added two goals and two assists.
Germany finished 12th, as Lasse Volquardsen nearly pushed the team to the win with five goals and an assist.
China prevailed 10-9 over Wales in a roller-coaster affair finish 17th. Wales erased a three-goal deficit in the second half, and twice tied the game after China re-took the lead. After an eight-minute deadlock, China scored the game-winning goal with 33 seconds left on Keegan Hughes’ third goal of the game.
Dylan Hsu set the single-game tournament-high with five assists to go with two goals, and he finished the tournament with the second-most total assists in Limerick with 16. Damon Hsu contributed four points with two goals and two assists. Matthew Wang stepped up on face-offs, winning 20 out of 22.
Wales finished 18th as Owain Braddock and Aaron Eastwood both scored hat tricks and finished the tournament in the top 10 for total goals scored.
Latvia started the day with an 8-6 win over Kenya to claim 19th place. Despite a 4-0 lead from Kenya, Latvia scored the next eight goals of the game. Christopher Konradi scored four goals for Latvia.
Reagan Ochan scored four of Kenya’s six goals and won eight of 16 face-offs. The team finished 20th in its first appearance in the event.
More information can be found at WorldLacrosse.sport and WorldLax2022.com.
August 20 Results
Championship Bracket
Bronze Medal Game
Australia 6, Haudenosaunee 10
Gold Medal Game
United States 12, Canada 10
Championship Consolation
Ninth Place: Jamaica 8, Israel 4
11th Place: Czech Republic 11, Germany 10 (OT)
Fifth Place: England 6, Japan 7 (2OT)
Seventh Place: Puerto Rico 11, Ireland 12
Platinum Consolation
19th Place: Kenya 6, Latvia 8
17th Place: Wales 9, China 10
