Jamaica rallied from an early deficit to stun Ireland, 10-7, in a play-in round upset to advance to the quarterfinals at the 2025 World Lacrosse Men’s U20 Championship on Jeju Island in Korea.
Jamaica finished ninth in its first ever appearance in the event in 2022, and with the win secured a record top-eight placement.
Ireland has finished seventh at the last two editions of the championship and was seeded seventh to Jamaica’s 10th seed, marking one of the most seismic results of the tournament in Korea.
Jamaica will face Canada, the second seed, in a quarterfinal on Thursday at 4 p.m. Ireland will continue in placement play towards ninth place, resuming play on Friday at 11 a.m.
Jamaica trailed 4-1 after the first quarter but found its footing quickly in the second at 5-5 after 25 total minutes of action. Jamaica started the second half with a bang with a solo spectacular effort from Domani White within five seconds to grab the lead. Carl Hyman ripped a right-sided goal within three minutes and Jamaica pulled off a 5-0 run to completely change the momentum of the game.
Ireland got within one, but Elias Shadeed-McLaughlin found another timely finish on the first possession of the fourth quarter. Jamaica’s defense took over and flummoxed Ireland for the rest of the final frame, allowing 12 shots but none on goal, while Stone Evans punctuated the win with a goal to make it 10-7 with just over a minute to play.
Jamaica’s defense grew into the game and held Ireland to just 10 shots on goal out of 28 shots total. Jamaica took 38 shots but frequently recovered possession in the Ireland end to keep the ball. The possession battle was also heavily skewed thanks to a 16 for 16 day on face-offs by Domani White.
Carl Hyman Shadeed-McLaughlin found the back of the net in the moments when it mattered for Jamaica. Hyman had three goals and an assist while Shadeed-McLaughlin registered two goals and an assist. Quincy White added two and Zeke Brown had two assists.
Shadeed Mc-Laughlin’s 12 goals led the tournament at the conclusion of his game, while Evans was second in overall points with 18.
Euan McKeever made six saves for Ireland. Boomer Staunton had two points and Dieter Butler scored twice.
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