By TRT Staff with notes from worldlacrosse.sport
SAN DIEGO — The Haudenosaunee dazzled for one final time at the 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship, defeating Australia 11-6 in the bronze medal match on Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium.
The Haudenosaunee have now claimed bronze in the last three men’s championships, each time defeating Australia.
Australia started well, taking a trio of early one-goal leads, but the Haudenosaunee came alive in the second quarter, finishing the half with a four goal run to lead 6-3.
The Haudenosaunee kept the offense rolling in the second half and never let Australia cut the deficit to one.
Austin Staats and Lyle Thompson were the stars of the show as Thompson had three goals and an assist and Staats finished with three goals.
Staats finished his eight-game run in San Diego with 30 goals and 38 points, the most in the tournament.
The 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship presented by Rady Children’s Hospital also concluded at the Snapdragon Stadium with the United States defending its title on home soil with a 10-7 victory over arch-rival Canada in front of a crowd of 15,112.
The gold medal game was another back-and-forth battle and marked the USA’s first back-to-back title since 2002 and third clinched on home soil.
More than 82,000 fans attended the 107 games over 11 days of competition, which was broadcast in a record over 190 countries.
As for the overall performance of the Haudenosaunee, they won five games at the championship, with two wins over Australia and wins over Japan, England and Hong Kong, China.
Australia finished its campaign in San Diego with three wins over teams in the playoff field, including two over rivals England.
