Ireland defanged Mexico for a 5-2 win in the ninth place game in a defensive slugfest at the 2025 World Lacrosse Men’s U20 Championship to close the placement action on Saturday night in Seogwipo, Korea.
On day nine of a tournament with teams jockeying for final seeding in their sixth or seventh game total, placement play often featured wild momentum swings and thrilling finishes. Ireland did reverse the tides of an early 2-1 Mexico lead, but had no interest in any dramatics after that, shutting out Mexico for the final three quarters.
Ireland tied the game at 2-2 four minutes into the second quarter and took the lead on a power play with 30 seconds left before halftime to snap a 10 minute deadlock.
Form there Ireland added two in the third and withstood 11 shots in 30 minutes from Mexico in the second half.
On the whole, Ireland allowed just seven shots on goal and forced Mexico into 26 turnovers, with 13 recorded caused turnovers.
Ireland secured its third top ten finish in its third appearance at the event. Mexico last appeared in the championship in 2016 and improved three spots to take 10th. The win was Ireland’s second over Mexico after a similarly hard-fought 7-4 battle to end pool play.
Gage Knight had five saves on seven shots faced for Ireland. Declan Butler’s hat trick was crucial in a game with seven goals total.
Weston Guerra made 10 saves for Mexico.
Through six games, Ireland saw three players finish with over 10 points in Butler, Chris Sweeney and Boomer Staunton, who was one of the rising stars on display on Jeju Island with 18 points total.
Knight filled in for Euan McKeever in the last two games with 11 saves.
Overall, Ireland allowed just 23 goals in six games, including just 16 in its five wins outside of the play-in round.
Mexico’s Weston Guerra made 61 saves in six games, and finished with the third most total saves among all goalkeepers with a 66% save percentage, the second best mark behind Japan’s Haruto Takai.
Ezekiel Peraza was another bright rising star in Korea, with 20 points in six games to shoulder the scoring burden for Mexico.
Thomas Agents and Luca DiCarlo both added 11 points.
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