Canada held off Great Britain, 14-10, in a hard-fought win to stay undefeated on day two of the women’s sixes competition at The World Games 2025 in Chengdu, China.
Great Britain went blow for blow with Canada into the third quarter, but the Canadian defense sprung a series of high value chances the other way that gave Canada enough breathing room to emerge unscathed in a captivating sixes affair.
“We stuck to our roots, we were told to be a little more aggressive and play the style that we know,” said Canada’s Brooklyn Walker-Welch. “We grew up playing box lacrosse, so we wanted to bring that atmosphere in.”
Canada improved to 2-0 and the top of Pool A while Great Britain fell to 1-1.
Great Britain was up for the challenge of trying to dethrone the defending gold medalist with a carefully considered gameplan. The Brits limited the pace of the game to keep possessions even and made sure to quell any transition opportunities from Canada with smart substitutions and positioning.
Canada led 2-1 three minutes into the first quarter, but Great Britain answered every Canada goal throughout the half, including a crucial two-goal stretch from Araminta Loxton and Cece Green early in the second quarter to stay at 4-4. The British attack used patience to find the open shooter and drained the shot clock to its advantage.
Canada ended the half with a surge of momentum up 6-5 when Great Britain found a rare solo breakaway in the last 20 seconds for Lottie Robertson that Lauren Spence turned away.
Chess Gray put Great Britain back on level terms early in the third, and Emilie Chandler made a big save to keep it tied.
But in a short stretch, Canada found three brief but crucial moments of daylight for Erica Evans, Maddy Baxter and Jordan Dean to score unopposed, all spurred by caused turnovers by Brooklyn Walker-Welch, Evans and Annabel Child.
“In the first and the second, we got our jitters out, and in the third, we were like ‘Let’s calm down, let’s get into a rhythm,’ and it just stacked up one by one,” said Walker-Welch. “We had a hard defense to play, but we came up with some stops and they were some momentum changers when we got it up and over”
“They were overloading on the right-hand side, so we had to adjust to that and force them the other way,” added Walker-Welch.
Canada’s defense locked down in the third, holding Great Britain to no goals the final seven minutes as it closed the frame with a 10-6 lead.
Canada put its finishing touches on the game in the final quarter with a three-goal outburst in less than 40 seconds, including two goals from a streaking Nicole Perroni.
Both teams finished even on shots at 29 apiece, with Great Britain coaxing Canada into 12 turnovers total, but Canada’s shot quality and finishing made the difference.
Evans finished the day as the top attacker for Canada with five points on four goals and an assist. Child added five points herself, as well as two caused turnovers and Perroni had a hat trick.
Spence was superb in net with 10 saves on 20 shots faced.
Chandler and Dylan Whittington combined for eight saves for Great Britain. Cece Green scored four goals, and Emma Savage provided three assists.
Canada will look to finish pool play undefeated and claim the top spot in Pool A on Saturday with a game against China at 10:30 a.m. Great Britain will face Japan in a crucial contest for a semifinal berth at 2:30 p.m.
Gallery
“She’s our captain for a reason. She brings energy into the huddle, calms us down, she scores bigs goals and tells us to get going. Even on defense she’s reminding us to get up, on offense she’s encouraging us to take the shot, and it helps a lot from a leader like her.” –Brooklyn Walker-Welch
Erica Evans
4 goals, 1 assist
