LAXFU Lacrosse News Blog

MANCHESTER, England — A four-year long rebuilding project by the U.S. men’s national team culminated Saturday in a 12-10 victory over Canada — the team that dethroned it in 2006 — in the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championship final before 4,651 fans at the University of Manchester.

“We dreamed of this. This was our destiny,” said Team USA head coach Mike Pressler. “The script was written. We just had to go out there and prove it.”

Team USA’s seventh world title did not come easy. The U.S. seized an 8-4 halftime lead with four unanswered goals in the second quarter. But Canada stormed back, blanking Team USA in the third quarter to tie it at 8. It set up another epic U.S.-Canada, fourth quarter showdown.

(more…)

MANCHESTER, England – Yoshihiro Okubo might not have been able to see the ball. But he could see the future.

As a player for the first Japanese national lacrosse team, Okubo recalled when big, bad Australia knocked Japan around in a 56-0 loss.

Fifty-six goals to none.

“I remember it,” Okubo said through interpreter Eri Shikami. “I don’t even know how they scored all those goals. I couldn’t even see the ball.”

Twenty-three years after the humble formation of the Japan Lacrosse Association — and 18 years after fielding its first-ever national team — Japan turned the tables on Australia in an 11-9 victory Monday in the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championships.

Read the full article at LaxMagazine.com

Manchester, England (press release) – Dan Dawson scored six goals in leading undefeated Canada to a 23-4 victory over Germany at the world field lacrosse championships Monday.

The win clinched first place in the elite bracket for Canada, 4-0, which completes the round-robin phase against England on Tuesday (2:30 p.m. ET).

The Germans scored first and it was 2-2 before coach David Huntley’s team roused itself into action.

“We were awful in the first half,” said Huntley. “Our focus wasn’t there, but I’m pleased with the way we came out in the second half. We had more focus, and that’s how we need to play. So, bad half, but we bounced back.”

Dawson had a big role in that. With Canada up 4-2, the six-foot-five Brampton firefighter scored three in a row to put Canada up 7-2 after one quarter. It was 12-3 at halftime and 17-3 after three quarters.

(more…)

Here’s the scoreboard for the FIL games played so far…

FIL World Lacrosse Games Scoreboard

MANCHESTER, England — The U.S. men’s national team suffered its first-ever loss in international preliminaries Saturday, falling to defending world champ Canada in the FIL World Championships at the University of Manchester before 4,137 fans. Tied 6-6 going into the fourth quarter, Team Canada star John Grant Jr. took over. He scored two of his three goals in the final frame, including the eventual game-winner with 4:13 remaining as his shot beat a late slide on the crease.

The U.S. led 3-2 after the first quarter on goals by Paul Rabil, Mike Leveille and long stick midfielder Kyle Sweeney — the long pole’s third goal in two days. Canada blanked Team USA in the second quarter, however, backstopped by five saves by goalkeeper Chris Sanderson. Billy Dee Smith, primarily a defensive midfielder, went coast to coast to tie the game at 3. Grant then went behind his back to put the Canadians up 4-3 at the 14:15 mark of the second quarter. They never trailed after that.

(more…)

Brett Bucktooth in Times Square

The Iroquois Nationals will not be playing in the 2010 World Lacrosse Championship.  After many days of waiting, there is no resolution in sight for their passport/visa complications.

“We’d rather be playing there than sitting here,” said the team’s captain, Gewas Schindler, 34, who plays attack. “It’s hard to talk about, really.”

American diplomats discussed the case with their British counterparts on Wednesday and Thursday, but the State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley signaled Friday that the team was out of luck.

“From our standpoint, we’ve done what we can do,” Crowley told reporters in Washington. “It would appear to us at this point that the U.K. has made their final determination.”

It is a sad day in lacrosse.