5th-ranked England fought off a dramatic comeback by the Israel men’s national team to protect their spot in the premier “Blue Group” in a promotion/relegation match at the 2014 FIL World Lacrosse Championships at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Thursday.
Israel will meet Japan in a final placement match on Friday at 11:00 AM. The winner will be ranked 7th in the world, while the loser will be slotted 8th.
England jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, before the Israelis slowly began chipping away at the deficit. The blue-and-white went on a 6-1 run over 46 minutes of play to notch the game at 6-6.
Aaron Prossner opened the fourth quarter with two goals for England to give them a 9-7 lead, and Israel was held scoreless until the final 70 seconds, when Kyle Bergman and Matthew Cherry shocked the Enlgish with back-to-back goals to force overtime.
Nicholas Watson’s score with 34 seconds remaining in the first overtime period would stand tall as the game-winner.
Watson (four goals), Prossner (two goals), Glenn Humphreys (one goal, one assist), Kyle Standiford (one goal), Colin Clive (one goal), Jack Brook (one goal), Jak-Laur Wawrzyniak (one assist), Matthew Sexton (one assist) and Samuel Russel (one assist) recorded points for England. Ben McAllister (88:00, 23 saves, 9 GA) was stellar between the pipes in the victory.
Ari Sussman (three goals), Cherry (two goals, one assist), Casey Cittadino (three assists), Bergman (two goals), Benjamin Smith (one goal) and Richard Cheifitz (one goal) contributed on offense for Israel.
Reuven Dressler (74:23, 10 saves, 5 GA) and Hank Altschuler (13:33, 2 saves, 5 GA) saw action in goal; Dressler was dealt the loss.
Additional caps: Adam Crystal, Matthew Flapan, Harrison Freid, Michael Grosz, Yochanan Katz, Daniel Leventhal, Cody Levine, Seth Mahler, Mathew Markman, Cole McCormack, Noach Miller, Jonathan Rathauser, Eytan Saperstein, Jacob Silberlicht
