LANGLEY, B.C. — Beginning on September 19, the World Indoor Lacrosse Championship wages on at the Langley Events Centre.
The tournament is comprised of teams from Costa Rica, Australia, Scotland, Switzerland,Czech Republic, Netherlands, Mexico, Serbia, Finland, Slovakia, Israel, United States, Canada and the Iroquois Nationals. The teams are then each separated into several coloured divisions of yellow, orange, blue and green.
In the blue division, comprised of the five top-seeded teams, the Iroquois Nationals defeated Israel 17-6, as expected.
But, the Iroquois Nationals glistened in the afterglow after a victory over the United States 12-10, to remain unbeaten at the WILC for the time.
They polished off England 19-5 with Tehoka Nanticoke earning the “goal of the tournament” with a hat-trick goal from a shot taken with one hand on the stick and following through between the legs — all the while being chased down by two defenders.
The Iroquois were then unbeaten until Monday, September 3 where they came into first contact with the returning champions.
Canada began their pursuit of a fifth straight World Lacrosse Men’s Indoor World Championship title with victory over the United States in British Columbia.
The hosts and defending champions began by earning a comfortable 16-6 win over the U.S., in their match at LEC Arena Bowl in Langley.
But the two teams meeting on Monday night brought out a loss for the Iroquois.
Cody Jamieson, Zed Williams, Tehoka Nanticoke, Randy Staats and Jordan Durston put up goals for the Iroquois in this game, but fell short 19-12 in the final.
The Iroquois Nationals have finished as runners-up at all four editions of the tournament so far, losing to the Canadians in the final on each occasion.
The Americans, on the other hand, have won every bronze medal in the tournament’s history, and have now slipped to a record of one win and two defeats.
All five teams from the blue group will reach the play-off phase, regardless of where they finish, and will be joined by the winners of the other three groups. Finishing higher in the blue table means you enter the knock-out round at a later stage, however.
Overall: Germany took over Scotland 18-6 in the green group and now holds a 100 per cent record alongside the Czech Republic and Slovakia took-off Mexico 18-7 to record a second victory. While in the orange group Finland beat Australia 15-10 to make it three wins from three at the top, Austria’s 20-10 win over Sweden means they are the closest challengers on two victories and Ireland beat Serbia 10-9 in the yellow group with both teams tied on two wins and a defeat. Hong Kong also registered a first success, defeating Switzerland 16-13.
The Iroquois Nationals will play again on Thursday with their opponent to be determined, at 5 p.m., and can be viewed at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/tfsetv/.
