Brennan O’Neill, the 21-year-old rising senior at Duke University, scored five goals from the midfield propelling Team USA to a 10-7 victory over Team Canada in the gold medal game.
O’Neil and the stars and stripe defense were the headliners.
The defense operated and stopped foes at an historical level. Goalie Blaze Riorden hasn’t given up a soft goal in years. Defenders JT Giles-Harris, Jesse Bernhardt and Jack Rowlett flew around like a swarm of bumble bees on honey. LSM Michael Ehrhardt, once beyond his tender hamstring, is a impenetrable force. The four short stick midfielders made the ultimate difference as Canada couldn’t find a match-up they could win. Danny Logan, Ryan Terefenko, Zach Goodrich and Jake Richards won their one v one’s, validating their selection as a foursome and proven to be a shrewd maneuver by the team selectors.
O’Neill Propels Team USA to Gold
The PLL and high level international lacrosse offense is all about match-ups. Find the favorable match-up and exploit it. If you can’t find the match-up, create one using two-man games and picks. The USA stacked their top six on offense with dodgers and ball carriers. O’Neill ran alongside Tom Schreiber and Mike Sowers. The attack of Kieran McArdle, Matt Rambo and Rob Pannell require three poles. Meanwhile Canada had non dodging threats who bogged down their offense unable to draw a slide against a shorty.
WE ARE WITNESSING HISTORY 🤯🤯
— TLN 🥍 (@LacrosseNetwork) July 2, 2023
Brennan O'Neill simply can NOT be stopped today 🇺🇸 @USAMLax
(via @WorldLacrosse, ESPNU) pic.twitter.com/YH4EztdnKd
Team USA was in San Diego on a mission. They were in California to win gold. And while I’d like to see them interact more with the dozens of developing nations to foster global growth and spread their expertise, Team USA’s play on the field and behavior was exemplary. Stars and Stripes had respect for the game, the refs, the opponents and the fans while conducting themselves in A+ fashion on and off the field. They were consummate pros. But as the host nation, I would prefer more interaction, more pollination, more leadership and more good will towards those nations in need . Team USA for all its merits on the field has more to offer the world. The developing nations would benefit greatly especially in a year so critical for Olympic inclusion.
Team USA Defense (goals against average)
2023 – 4.00 GAA
2014 – 4.85 GAA
2018 – 5.28 GAA
1994 -5.71 GAA
2010 – 6.28 GAA
Japan
The sport had its modest beginning in Japan when Yusuke Sasaki and Mizuho Wakabayashi, students at Keio University in Tokyo, saw the game on television. Intrigued, they went to the Canadian Embassy for information. The Canadians introduced them to Norio Endo, a Hopkins alumnus who was living in Japan. Endo had recently talked about introducing lacrosse to Japan with Ross Jones, a Hopkins vice president, who thought the Japanese would like the sport.
In 1986, Bob Scott, the Hopkins athletic director and former head lacrosse coach, went to Japan to teach the game to the first group of students.
Yusuke came to JHU as an exchange student and lacrosse team manager in the late 1980’s. Hopkins team visited in the summer of 1989. I went to Kyoto and Tokyo for two weeks in the summer of 1990 with coach Don Zimmerman.
The Japanese continue to make strides and defeated England for a fifth place finish in a game marred by an ugly unsportsmanlike hit before the final whistle.
Jamaica’s top ten finish is notable. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this group of young men.
2026 Worlds
The 2026 World Championship location is still TBD with whispers of Hong Kong China and Japan as potential hosts.
Right now 86 countries play lacrosse. 30 nations competed in San Diego. An Olympic decision is expected in the fall. Lacrosse is looking to be a host city sport in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. This sanctioning would be a game changer for International Lacrosse and enable many foreign nations lacrosse governing bodies to receive increased funding from their government support of Olympic sports. Olympic inclusion would be global validation of lacrosse.
Final Standings
1. United States
2. Canada
3. Haudenosaunee
4. Australia
5. Japan
6. England
7. Israel
8. Jamaica
9. Italy
10. Puerto Rico
11. Germany
12. Ireland
13. Hong Kong
14. Netherlands
15. Philippines
16. Mexico
17. Scotland
18. France
19. Wales
20. Poland
21. Latvia
22. Peru
23. Czech Republic
24. Sweden
25. New Zealand
26. Korea
27. Switzerland
28. Austria
29. Denmark
30. Uganda
The PLL is in Minneapolis this weekend.
