July 20, 2018
Canada Reaches World Championship Final with 15-4 Win Over Iroquois Nationals
Canadian Lacrosse Association –Ben McIntosh (19) avoids a check from an Iroquois defender during Canada’s 15-4 win in the semi-finals of the 2018 FIL Men’s Lacrosse World Championship in Netanya, Israel.
Credit: Oded Karni
NETANYA, ISRAEL – Canada will have the opportunity to capture their fourth World Championship title this weekend in Netanya, Israel, after advancing to the 2018 FIL Men’s Lacrosse World Championship final with a 15-4 semi-final win over the Iroquois Nationals.
They will take on the United States, who advanced to the championship game with a 14-5 victory over Australia in the other semi-final.
It was Canada’s second win over the Iroquois this week, the first coming in preliminary round on July 16, where goaltender Dillon Ward’s outstanding 24 save performance led Canada to a 10-5 win.
“I think that was our best performance thus far,” said head coach Randy Mearns. “We’ve challenged our guys to get better every day and today our coaching staff had them well prepared. Overall, a tremendous effort.”
Canada controlled the semi-final matchup from start to finish, jumping out to an early 6-0 lead thanks to a 5 for 7 first quarter at face-off performance from Geoff Snider and five big saves from goaltender Dillon Ward, a pair of which led to some highlight reel transition goals.
Snider finished the game 8 for 15, while his teammate Jake Withers went 5 for 7. Ward, meanwhile, turned aside 13 shots and finished the game with an incredible 81% save percentage.
“We played great today, putting up 15 on a pretty good defensive team,” said Mark Cockerton, who led the team with four goals. “We got off to a hot start, went up 6-0 in the first quarter. Against this talented of a team you always want to get off to a good start.”
Ben McIntosh paced the offense with five points on three goals and two assists, while Jeremy Noble and Mark Matthews contributed with a two goal, one assist performance. Cockerton scored four goals, while Curtis Dickson netted three goals of his own.
Jeff Teat, the team’s leading scorer, added three assists to bring his tournament total to eight goals, thirteen assists for 21 points.
“Our offense was very unselfish, guys always looking for the next pass and making the right reads,” added Mearns. “We were also burying the ball, which is what we wanted to do.”
Lyle Thompson led the Iroquois with two goals, while Randy Staats and Brendan Bomberry added singles.
Saturday’s championship game will mark the sixth consecutive finals matchup between the North American rivals, who are the only two countries to ever win the senior men’s tournament since it was inaugurated in 1967.
The Canadians are looking to win their second consecutive title after defeating the U.S. 8-5 in the finals four years ago in Denver, Colorado. They also claimed gold in 1978 in Stockport, England and in 2006 in London, Ontario.
The Americans enter this weekend’s finale with an undefeated record (6-0), which includes an 11-10 win over Canada in the preliminary round, a closely contested game won on a Paul Rabil goal with 1:10 remaining on the clock. They’ve outscored their opponents 98-29 along the way.
Canada, meanwhile, have been led by a well balanced offense, where six players have scored 10 or more points, and by the tournament’s best goaltender to date in Dillon Ward. The Most Valuable Players of the 2014 World Championship currently sits atop the rankings with a 68% save percentage.
The 2018 FIL Men’s Lacrosse World Championship finals take place July 21 at 3:00am ET at Netanya Stadium.
The game will be broadcast live on TSN2, TSN.ca and on the TSN App. Visit http://bit.ly/2018WorldLaxTSN for the complete tournament streaming schedule.
Schedule
The complete match schedule, including playoff brackets, can be found here.
· July 13 @ 2:00pm ET vs England (12-6 Win)
· July 14 @ 11:00am ET vs Scotland (22-3 Win)
· July 15 @ 12:00pm ET vs United States (11-10 Loss)
· July 16 @ 2:00pm ET vs Iroquois Nation (10-5 Win)
· July 17 @ 7:30am ET vs Australia (13-7 Win)
· July 19 @ 11:00am ET vs Iroquois Nation (15-4 Win)
· July 21 @ 11:00am ET vs United States
Information
· Roster: http://bit.ly/CanLaxSrMen
· Webcast: http://bit.ly/2018WorldLaxTSN
· Schedule: http://bit.ly/2018WorldLaxSchedule
· Statistics: http://bit.ly/2018WorldLaxStatistics
· Facebook: Canadian Lacrosse Association
· Twitter: @LacrosseCanada
· Instagram: @lacrosse_canada
Media
Alain Brouillette
Communications and Marketing Coordinator
Canadian Lacrosse Association
Email: alain@lacrosse.ca
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Ben McIntosh (19) avoids a check from an Iroquois defender during Canada’s 15-4 win in the semi-finals of the 2018 FIL Men’s Lacrosse World Championship in Netanya, Israel.
Credit: Oded Karni
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