Norway is coming off some disappointing finishes in the 2010 World Championships and the 2012 European Championships, finishing 24th at Worlds and 14th at the European Championships. With no World Championship under their belt the Norwegians gain a lot of experience at the international stage that has been hard to come by in the northern European countries like Norway, Sweden and Finland.
The Norwegian participated in the Scandinavian Lacrosse Challenge in May. The tournament was held in Stockholm Sweden between Norway, Finland and the hosts Sweden. Norway ended up losing both games but they played well and kept both games close. They lost to Finland 5-4 in overtime and then they lost to Sweden 12-6 after a massive improvement by Sweden, who won the tournament. This tournament was a testing point for the Norwegians especially after the team announced its roster on January 24th of this year, only losing out to Wales and Israel as the first team to announce a roster.
The roster came out like this:
Goal
Erlend Hoel (Stange, Norway)
Hein Hofvind (Hometown, Norway)
Defense
Aleksander Sars (Kristiansand, Norway)
Thomas Liseth (Bergen, Norway)
Arild Rune Nedreberg (Stryn, Norway)
Henrik Schrøder (Asker, Norway)
Magnus Haynes (Asker, Norway)
Lars Åmellem (Jar, Norway)
Midfield
Steffen Backe (Asker, Norway)
Alf Halland Nesse (Stord, Norway)
Didrik Abrahamsen (Asker, Norway)
Kristofer Kragerud (Oslo, Norway)
Christian Roness (Oslo, Norway)
Niklas Sparr Johnsen (Oslo, Norway)
Lars Rysst (Bekkestua, Norway)
Alexander Seldal Bakke (Billingstad, Norway)
Carl-Peter Lian (Oslo, Norway)
Jakob Spieler Palmers (Nesodden, Norway)
Attack
Thomas Laycock (Rykkinn, Norway)
Aksel Louis Legouy Kvaal (Bærum, Norway)
Jesper Norman Hjorth (Asker, Norway)
Ole Petter Leite (Oslo, Norway)
Per-Arne Winsnes Kvalvåg (Drammen, Norway)
The Players to watch out for are Lars Rysst and Thomas Laycock both very good offensive threats. Rysst is a midfielder that plays for the reigning Norwegian Champions NTNUI, while Laycock is an attackmen that plays for the more well know Oslo Legends.
The Norwegians are playing in the Green Division along with China, Italy, and the Netherlands. Unfortunately for Norway they are falling in to a group with a very strong Dutch team, a Italian team that is looking to show better than 2010 and a newcomer, impressive looking Chinese team. They will start the tournament off with Italy at 1pm EST on July 11th.
