By Phil Shore
The final horn sounded and chants of “USA!” bellowed from the crowd as the women from the United States danced with the championship trophy in front of home support in Sparks, Maryland. In a rematch of the 2025 gold medal game at The World Games, the United States women once again bested Canada, 18-11, this time earning the Atlas Cup championship.
Throughout the day, the theme for each game was the importance of getting off to a fast start, and the American women might have done that better than anyone.
The United States hit the gas from the first whistle, scoring on their first possession and tallying the first four goals of the game. The first quarter ended in favor of the United States, 7-1, and the Atlas Cup champions never looked back.
“Credit to Sam [Apuzzo] and Marie [McCool] and our awesome draw takers,” Charlotte North said. “Just this entire team. Everybody is willing to do whatever it takes, especially for little goals like that to have a fast start. It takes a whole team.”
The day itself started in exciting fashion with what was arguably the game of the tournament.
Despite getting outscored 4-2 in the final quarter, the Haudenosaunee pulled through in overtime, and Paisley Cook’s dodge down the middle and ensuing shot gave the Haudenosaunee the 11-10 victory over Puerto Rico.
Sierra Cockerille scored four goals and added two assists in the win, and she said the message in the fourth quarter and overtime was to stay calm.
“Lacrosse is a game of runs,” she said. “Take the ball. When you have the ball, you have control, so just staying calm, staying composed, and making one stop at a time. When we had the ball on offense, put it in the back of the net.”
On the men’s side, Canada finished its weekend a perfect 3-0 after a resounding 26-11 victory over Puerto Rico. The two teams traded goals in the first two minutes, but Canada scored the next five goals, including one from Jeff Teat with one second remaining in the first quarter to go up 8-3.
Thomas McConvey, who tied for the team lead with seven points, said the key to the weekend was how quickly the group was able to come together and gel.
“From Thursday to Sunday, it was building chemistry, learning the game of sixes,” he said. “For some of us, it was our first time playing, and we got coached up really well and found a way.”
In the day’s finale, the United States used a strong opening quarter – outscoring the Haudenosaunee 5-1 – to finish the weekend with a victory after a loss to Canada the previous night.
Goalie Colin Kirst stressed how important the first quarter was in their victory.
“It’s really important to get off to a great start,” he said. “As the game goes on, your legs kind of go, so being aggressive early is really important and staying disciplined with some of the principals we emphasize throughout the week is really big.”
While teams hoped to get off to good starts in the game, the Atlas Cup proved to be just the start of a journey for eight different programs with eyes on the sixes competition at The Olympic Games in 2028.
Box scores from all of the games can be found here via USA Lacrosse.
Highlights of the United States women’s win over Canada are below.
The U.S. Women's Sixes National Team are the 2025 Atlas Cup champions 🏆 pic.twitter.com/0a44iueQVv
— USA Lacrosse (@USA_Lacrosse) September 28, 2025
