Day 8 games are going down! As the game reports and photos from the day’s action rolls in from all the Day 8 action out there, we put it ALL here, so you can check it all out. Get extra insight, great photos, and some amazing videos all right here. If you want predictions, check out our FIL Lacrosse Lines!
As the day progresses, and more content comes out, it will get added in!
Sound like a plan? LET’S GO!
World Championships Game Reports: Day 8
Scotland 7 Vs Japan 11
Written by Rien ZaborOn the fringes of finishing in the coveted Top 6, Japan and Scotland went to battle tonight in a technically sound game. As every World Championship tournament helps decide the top teams in the world, these two squads understood the pressure to perform in order to either remain or regain their seat at the table. It was a stated goal for Japan to get back in, and for Scotland to remain.
This game really started back in 2014 in Denver, CO when they met in the 6th place game. Although Japan was a favorite at the time, Scotland had impressed the lacrosse community with their tough play and sideline antics. Needless to say, Scotland won that game giving them their chance to compete in the Blue group this go-around. That’s why Japan took this match personally.
After a slow 1 goal start for Japan, they regrouped and exploded in the 2nd quarter tallying 6 straight goals. Their offense has been technically savvy all tournament long and their discipline came in handy today. Mikisuke Sekine kept the pace going for Japan putting together a hat trick performance alongside 7 other scorers. Even though Scotland fought back in the 2nd half with 6 goals, it was just not enough to erase their 2nd quarter woes.
As they had hoped, Japan now has a chance to reclaim their position in the top 6 as they will battle Israel for a spot in the 5th place game.
Russia 15 Vs Peru 8
Written by Rien Zabor
The ability to stay active and take advantage of opportunities helped drive Russia to an 15-8 win over Peru. Early on in this game Peru made some mental errors, dropping passes and failing to complete clears. Russia seized on those turnovers starting with a 2 goal lead only 2 minutes into the evening.
Peru was fired up and determined to make a stand doing their best to match the efforts on the opposing side. However, for every goal Peru claimed Russia seemed to get two of their own by simply shooting the ball more often. With 51 shots to Peru’s 27 it only took time before Russia racked up the score.
That time to be specific came in the 4th quarter when they piled on 7 goals to run away with this game. Russia will certainly hope to continue this energetic run tomorrow when they play France for potentially the 33rd place in the tournament.
Korea 12 Vs Uganda 4
Written by Katie Conwell
In one of the last games of the night, Korea easily defeated Uganda 12-4. These two teams finished 35th and 34th respectively in the 2014 championships in Denver. Uganda was a fan favorite during that tournament, and the team’s cheerful and friendly attitudes make it easy for people to like them.
Korea finished the first half up 6-1, but Uganda was able to keep pace with Korea in the third quarter as each team scored two goals apiece. Both teams started the game with small yet vocal cheering sections. By the end of the game, Uganda supporters had filled in the fan section and erupted in cheers when Liberty Twesiime scored Uganda’s 4th goal of the game to cut their deficit to 6. Ultimately, Korea prevailed in this matchup and earned their second win of the tournament.
LASt Word – Hankety Hawkness!
We also have TWO sweet recap shows!
It’s the LASt Word!
Skip to the 14 minute mark on this one!
Australia 9 Vs Israel 6
This was a big one! Israel went up early, and led 4-1 but the Australians showed their FIL savvy and used tough physical play to only allow 6 goals in the game. To see that group tighten up like they did was impressive. Australia did extremely well on face offs, and if US colleges don’t start recruiting more of these kids it will be their loss.
Australia heads to play the US in the semifinals tomorrow. We’ll have a lot more on this great game soon. Check back for updates!
Iroquois 14 Vs Puerto Rico 7
Written by Justin Meyer
With three seconds remaining in the third quarter, the Iroquois Nationals called up timeout leading Puerto Rico 8-7 in a tight quarterfinal showdown Wednesday on ESPN Field.
Lyle Thompson called the timeout, a decision Iroquois head coach Red Burnam didn’t agree with at the time. Nevertheless, the coaching staff drew up a play to carve the Puerto Rican defense with the little time remaining. After the break, the team executed the play perfectly, finishing with a Randy Staats score right before the quarter buzzer to snag the momentum heading into the final 20.
“We probably didn’t want that,” Burnam said. “It was like, ‘Don’t shoot, don’t shoot, oh nice shot.’”
The Iroquois wouldn’t give the momentum back.
The team dominated the fourth quarter, opening the game up with a six-goal run starting with that late-third score and pitching a shutout in the last period en route to a 14-7 victory and a berth in the semifinal. Even when the game was neck-and-neck, the Iroquois stayed calm, never allowing the moment to get too big. Burnam said it’s a staple of this team.
“Our team plays pretty loose,” he explained. “Coaches are pretty loose. Guys are pretty loose. There’s not a lot of sense of urgency. We don’t panic much.”
While the Iroquois kept their heads, the grind of the World Championships caught up with the Puerto Ricans. Puerto Rico head coach Jeff Ramos said the difference in the final quarter was his team’s stamina.
“I think we just got physically tired,” Ramos said. “Offensively, I think we made some silly decisions that cost us turnovers, but the pace of play tired us out a little bit, and that’s pretty much it.”
Ramos isn’t disappointed in his team’s performance at all. In fact, he praised his players for sticking with the Iroquois for three-fourths of the game and never giving up. “I thought they gave four quarters worth of effort,” he said. “We gave them a game. That’s what we wanted to do. We wanted to prove we could run with them, and I think we did.”
The loss knocks Puerto Rico out of medal contention, but the team is still very much alive for a top six finish and Blue Division berth in 2022, something absolutely worth playing for in the program’s first World Championships.
“The fact that we could play with the number three team in the world gives us a tremendous amount of confidence playing for the back end of the top 10,” Ramos said. “We will be going into tomorrow’s game and Friday’s game believing we can run the table. We want to end up as high as we can.”
For the Iroquois, a rematch is set against Canada for a spot in the gold-medal game. The two teams will face-off Thursday at 6 p.m. on ESPN Field in what will be one of the most highly-anticipated games of the tournament. When the Iroquois played Canada on Monday, it fell 10-5 on the heels of an incredible performance from Canadian goalie Dillon Ward. This time around, the Iroquois will hope the time the team has spent together on and off the field since then will make a difference.
“The team is starting to gel more,” Burnam said. “It’s getting better each time. I see it in the chemistry in our offense, and people are starting to get used to each other. Starting to trust each other, starting to know where people are, starting to get tendencies.”
Puerto Rico will play England on Thursday at 9:45 p.m. on Epoch Field as part of the fifth-place bracket.
England 11 Vs Ireland 10
What a game! Physical, at times fast, and just about as exciting and drama filled as lacrosse can get!
Ireland went up big early, and by big we mean HUGE. A 5-1 first quarter in Ireland’s favor provided a start, but that lead would be stretched to 7-1 before much of the second quarter had passed. At that point England flipped a switch, and score six straight goals to tie the game back up at 7 goals apiece. The final goal of this run came with 1 second left in the half off of Peter Hayes’ stick, and it looked like the English were ready to roll the rest of the way.
While England was in fact ready, Ireland was also prepared to keep after it, and the Irish came out and scored the first two goals of the third, both coming from Aaron Cahill as he completed his hat trick. Nick Watson and James Yanes would score the next two goals for England, and again we were knotted at 9 goals apiece. England’s next goal would spark a serious celebration from Josh Sherry-Brennan and it was deserved as his low to high burner was a beauty.
With England up 1, at 11-9, Ireland had the ball in tight around the cage and generated some good chances but with a minute left England cleared the ball, and then threw it away. Ireland moved the ball quickly down the field, and Ed Forst scored an unreal diving goal in an unsettled and chaotic situation where he took a serious slash, to pull within 1, at 11-10. This goal was Forst’s only of the game, but it was a highlight reel worthy individual effort.
A flag down on the play would give Ireland a real shot at forcing overtime and Ireland won the face off, but an Irish misstep (trying to catch the ball with your hand) forced a late turnover, and England just barely escaped from the jaws of a serious upset.
It must be noted that William Baxter, England’s starting goalie, was injured and came out, and that Henry Dwobeng played the rest of the game in relief. Dwobeng, and the entire English D really clamped down in the second half, and it was impressive to watch. Two goals each from Alex Russell, Sam Russell, Nick Watson and James Yanes powered England through. Keep Calm and Score Two Goals Apiece. It’s an English thing!
Hungary 9 Vs Spain 8
Written by Ryan Conwell
Hungary and Spain faced off today in what was looking to be a pretty good game. It turned into a great one. It also was the quintessential example of lacrosse being a game of runs. While it started off close, it ended on a dramatic rally to seal things for Hungary.
It took things a little while to get started, but Hungary was first on the board about five minutes in, followed by another four minutes later. Two goals in nine minutes is a good indication of two teams which are pretty evenly matched. Spain quickly followed with a pair of their own before Hungary’s Karsten Nyarady scored the go ahead goal to close out the quarter.
From there, Spain took over. Save for another Nyarady goal, Spain scored six of the next seven goals, led by the efforts of Connor Cinquegrana and Daniel De La Casa. The two paired up for two of the goals, while also playing apart in two more, which isn’t too shocking as they are the teams leading scorers so far in the tournament. But, like I said before: lacrosse is a game of runs. The most overused phrase in the book, because it really is.
Hungary closed out the game by scoring five straight goals over a thirty minute span. The credit really does go to Spain defense is this, though. They did a great job limited the looks Hungary was getting and forced them to take more chances. Neither team played reckless at any point, and they just methodically worked through the process.
But when your game winning goal is scored with over ten minutes left on the clock, it sets up some dramatic possessions. It’s also when the emotion of the game began to take hold. This is also when the penalty flags started to fly. Three of the game’s four penalties were all in this final 10 minutes, forcing Spain to kill one man down, while Hungary had two of their own. Each time, teams were really letting shots fly. Hungary opted to not milk things too much on the offensive end, instead choosing to use the clear to their advantage. But each team was still trying to make plays, which of course led to mistakes.
Especially in the last few minutes, the best opportunities to make plays came in the clearing game. Hungary would slow it down, but Spain would inevitably press. They never went to a 10 man, but they didn’t need to. Hungary would make the far passes, or be forced into having a longpole carry the ball into the offensive zone, where adjacent passes immediately were locked off. Forcing turnovers in these situations kept given Spain more chances.
Right at the end, Spain was able to ride themselves into a broken possession on the Hungary defense side of the field. With Hungary’s goalie already far out of the cage, the scramble drill was in fully effect. Hungary longpoles this there best to clog passing lanes and make Spain dodge to create something, which turned out to be exactly what they needed. Instead of an empty goal straight on, Spain shot from the wing to try and tie it up. It hit post. The fans from Hungary sighed, while the Spanish contingent groaned. After that, Hungary pieced together another strong clear and were able to celebrate the victory.
Norway 16 Vs Austria 5
Hong Kong 16 Vs Poland 5
Written by Katie Conwell
When Poland and Hong Kong first played each other in the 2018 World Lacrosse Championships on July 13th, the intense and physical game ended in heartbreak for Poland when they lost 7-9. This rematch was set to be a close game. Hong Kong had different ideas, however, as they beat Poland 16-5 this afternoon. Hong Kong looked not only like the more disciplined and talented team, but they also looked like they had grown as a team since the last time these two teams played.
Hong Kong shot the ball hard and accurately. Six players on the team scored 2 or more goals in the game. Evan Mok-Lamme led the way with 4 goals and 1 assist. Hong Kong’s goalie also played well, recording a 62% save percentage. Matt Johnson, Poland’s leading scorer, recorded a hat trick in the game. Poland falls to a 2-4 record in the tournament.
China 14 Vs Colombia 6
China came out ready to play and scored the first two goals of the game before 4.5 minutes had passed. Colombia would answer back to cut the lead to 1, but China would go on to score the next 2 goals to take an early 4-1 lead. Colombia would again score to cut the lead, but China would again answer with a goal less than 1:30 later, to take a 5-2 lead into the quarter break.
Tyler Chin would complete his early game hat trick to open the scoring in the second quarter, and China was up 6-2, and looked in control. At 8-3 the Chinese looked even more solid but before the halftime whistle sounded both Colombia continued to press and scored two more goals, and a 3-3 quarter brought the game to a 8-5 score with 40 minutes still to go.
China would regroup during the break, figure it out, and absolutely dominate the second half. They took the third quarter 4-0, and added on a 2-1 fourth quarter to cap off a 14-6 win over Colombia. Tyler Chin finished with 5 goals and an assist while Mingyong Tong had 3 goals an assist. Jesus Alberto Rodriguez Arias led Colombia with a pair of goals.
Luxembourg 4 Vs Taiwan 12
So far in this tournament Taiwan had scored 1, 1, 6, and 3 goals, and had lost every game but they put up a HUGE first half against Luxembourg, scoring 3 goals in the first and 5 more in the second to not only take an 8-3 lead in this game, but to also set their own new record for goals in a game… and they did it by halftime!
The Taiwan team is young, but they play passionately and love the game. Their never give up attitude, young legs, and desire to earn a big W have paid off. Congrats to Taiwan for their first FIL win in 2018! That’s big stuff!
Taiwan had 7 scorers in this game (which is more goals than they had scored in any of their other games) and they were led by Kun-han Lee (3 goals), Shu-cheng Lin (2 goals), Chien-sheng Wang (2 goals), and Bo-yi Wu (2 goals) on offense. Nick Beattie was great in goal for Luxembourg, making 14 saves in the loss. Luxembourg is still looking for that elusive first win.
Croatia 1 Vs Bermuda 10
Bermuda was strong from start to finish in this one, plodding ahead with a solid 10-1 win. Bermuda was up 5-0 after the first quarter, and 8-0 at the half. Croatia got one goal in the third, Bermuda got two, and neither team put any away in the fourth as the game slowed down. It’s hot out there, and this is a LONG tournament. It makes sense.
Drew Jenkins was a force all game long for Bermuda and his three goals helped in the early push. Bobby Walker added 2 goals and an assist while Stephen Michel assisted on two goals and scored one of his own. TJ Scalia mad six saves to earn the win, and Erik Mikelinich was phenomenal at times, making 18 saves in the loss.
Czech Republic 10 Vs Belgium 8
Every time Belgium scored early on, the Czechs came back with a vengeance. When Belgium made a final push, could the Czech team hold them off?
Belgium opened the scoring off a Diego Spillebeen goal, and the CR answered back with three goals of their own. When Belgium made it 3-2, the Czech team rattled off the next 4 goals, and it was 7-2. Belgium made it 7-3 before the halftime break, but to start the third the Czechs scored twice to extend their lead to 9-3, and put the game out of reach, assuming the Czech offense could keep it up. Belgium would tack on the next two goals to cut the lead back to 4, at 9-5.
As they did all game long, the Czechs fought hard on the opening 4th quarter face off, and won possession of the ball, letting Belgium know that any comeback effort would absolutely require maximum effort. The Belgians gave the effort, and only allowed one more goal for the rest of the game. The Belgium offense delivered three more goals, but it wasn’t enough and the Czechs held on to a two goal win.
Editor’s Note: The games below will be updated with scores, photos, and recaps as they come in to the main hub! Come back for new updates all day long!
Greece 12 Vs New Zealand 11
Teenage goalie for Greece earns his first ever win at the FIL World Lacrosse Championships! Big win for the Greeks over a tough New Zealand team. Nate Lewnes had 7 goals for Greece to power their offense on the day!
Jamaica 12 Vs Switzerland 6
There was quite a bit of jawing during this game, and some physical hits on goal scorers, but Jamaice used an edge in one on one match ups to create better looks, and more of them, rolling to a pretty comfortable win.
Turkey 8 Vs Mexico 14
Mexico used a slight edge in experience and depth to take down a solid Turkey squad. A couple finishes, or saves, one or way or the other and this one could have been different, but Mexico showed poise and did the little things right when it mattered most.
Sweden 11 Vs Argentina 4
Sweden dominated the run of play, and used fresher legs, size, and depth to their advantage. They outpaced Argentina consistently and snuffed out chances well on D.
Wales 10 Vs Latvia 9
This game was an absolute thriller, with a bunch of ties, emotional swings, and some of the loudest cheering the tourney has heard on one of the smaller fields. You could hear it during the broadcasts of other games. This was an intense, a battle right to the very end, and Wales won a BIG one.