The 2024 World Lacrosse Women’s Championship is set for August 15-24 in Hong Kong, China with 20 teams competing split into four pools. The top two teams from each pool advance to the playoffs.
The full schedule for the championship can be found here.
Pool B: Canada, Haudenosaunee, Korea, Chinese Taipei, Wales
Canada is the defending silver medalist in the event, and is one of three teams to have won the championship, last doing so in 2015 in Scotland. Canada will be one of the favorites for the podium again in Hong Kong, leaving another intriguing battle for a playoff spot.
The Haudenosaunee and Wales will like their chances the most – Wales have finished in the top ten in every edition of the event, including two seventh places finishes in a row. The Haudenosaunee finished in tenth in 2019 and will be looking to match their development path to their senior level after claiming eighth at the women’s championship in Towson in 2022.
Wales has played together with its squad in multiple competitions already, taking home fourth place in 2023 in the Women’s U21 European Championship in Prague, with two wins over Czechia. The team also competed in the Home Internationals event in the spring, and is full of club lacrosse experience.
The Haudenosaunee have named an experienced roster, with players who have competed for the senior women’s national team at the 2022 Women’s Championship in Towson and The 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, and in sixes at the PALA Sixes Cup in Jamaica in 2023. A handful of players also have collegiate experience, led by Wynter Jock (Notre Dame), and Paisley Cook (Albany).
Korea will make its third appearance in the event and look to improve on its best-ever 13th place finish, accomplished in 2015. The roster is a blend of talent with some Korean and American collegiate experience. Elena Oh is a goalkeeper committed to Colorado and Laura Park is an attacker committed to Harvard, while Phoebe Kim just finished her sophomore season at Stanford.
Chinese Taipei is making its second ever appearance in the event, after finishing in 20th in 2019. The majority of the team has high school or collegiate experience in Chinese Taipei, and there are a handful of players with American high school experience, led by Chloe King, who is committed to Virginia Commonwealth University.
While both Korea and Chinese Taipei come into Hong Kong with more uncertainty than their pool counterparts, they might able be able to use that uncertainty to their advantage, with developed rosters and budding stars ready to surprise.
Canada’s roster is full of collegiate talent at every position, and was selected through several rounds of tryouts including exhibition games against the United States and Northwestern University. Lauren Black, Jillian McNaughton and goalkeeper Lauren Spence all represented Canada at the senior level in 2022 in Towson, and McNaughton played in 2019 in Peterborough as well.
Games to Watch
August 15: Korea vs Chinese Taipei, 9 a.m. HKT
Korea and Chinese Taipei will kick off the first game of the Women’s U20 Championship in the morning, in a thrilling face-off between teams from the same region racing to develop against each other. These two teams have questions about exactly how they will look which will be answered at the very start of the tournament. The winner of this game can put itself in a position to challenge for a playoff spot the rest of the way.
August 17: Haudenosaunee vs. Canada, 8 p.m. HKT
While Canada is the presumed favorite in the group, the Haudenosaunee will see this match as an opportunity to shock the status quo against its long-standing rival, and make a statement to the rest of the tournament on where its aims are. On the whole, this match will have some of the most talent on the field out of any in pool play, which should make for spectacular viewing.
August 18: Korea vs. Wales, 8 p.m. HKT
On the balance of past performance, Korea might be expected to be a shade better than Chinese Taipei, which could set this match up with plenty of playoff implications. Regardless, on Wales’ side, it will likely need to claim three wins against the Haudenosaunee, Chinese Taipei and Korea to advance to the playoffs, and Korea could present a very tricky matchup.
August 20, Wales vs. Haudenosaunee, 2 p.m. HKT
There is no guarantee that these two teams make it to the final day of pool play with a playoff spot on the line, but even so, this would be a tight contest between two top-ten finishers in 2019. If both teams are 2-1 heading into the final day, a de-facto play-in game for the quarterfinals would await, which is the best kind of contest to cap off pool play between strong ELF and PALA squads.
