Israel Eliminated from European Championships

The debut of Israel’s men’s national lacrosse team in the European Lacrosse Championships came to an end, as No. 8 Netherlands rolled to an 18-3 quarterfinal win at Amsterdam Bos on Wednesday.

Netherlands grabbed an early 2-0 lead, but Elan Daisudov and Ben Bretter answered back for Israel to tie the game at 2-2. Goaltender Hank Altschuler made several impressive saves to preserve the tie after one quarter of play.

However, the Dutch scored seven straight goals in the second quarter to take command of the game. Netherlands maintained their dominance in the second half to cruise to victory.

Michael Pfeffer also scored for the unranked blue and white, who became an unlikely quarterfinalist by topping Wales, France, Norway and Slovakia to win their group.

Altschuler (9 saves, 9 goals against) and Ben Levine (3 saves, 9 goals against) split time in goal; Altschuler was credited the loss.

Bolderink Ingmar and Graham Bergsma each scored four goals to lead the  Dutch.

Israel (4-1) will meet No. 7 Scotland on Thursday at 2:30 PM, and either No. 6 Germany or No. 12 Finland on Friday in consolation matches.

Host Netherlands (3-4) struggled in the top division, but defeated Ireland and Czech Republic to qualify for the quarterfinals. Their win over Israel pits them against tournament-favorite England, while Ireland and Sweden meet in the other semifinal.

Additional caps – Abraham Brandes, Richard Cheifitz, Noam Goldstein,
Samuel Hyman, Jack Jacobs, Jesse Kane, Yochanan Katz, Mathew Markman,
Joshua Pankin, Roey Ringel, Aryeh Sabag, Matthew Spielman, Alex Tress,
Adam Waddell