Team USA soundly defeated Team Australia by a score of 19-1 on Saturday in blue group action at the World Field Lacrosse Championships.
Leading the way for Team USA was Jordan Wolf with three goals and two assists. Ryan Brown, Marcus Holman and Tom Schreiber all had hat tricks for the USA, who led 12-0 by halftime.
“We were looking to be a little more aggressive from the start,” said U.S. head coach John Danowski. “The guys felt they were a little on their heels Thursday night in the first quarter. We gave up five goals in that first quarter and then four goals in the next three quarters. Today, they wanted to come out from the beginning and play a little more physical and establish themselves.”
Nigel Morton scored Australia’s only goal in the third quarter.
Although Team USA dominated every aspect of the game, there were still some areas of concern. Team USA seems to rely on just a few players to provide most of the scoring. Although this worked against Australia, it is concerning when one considers stronger teams like Team Canada, which the USA will face this afternoon.
Even more concerning was the injury to goaltender Jack Kelly during the second half of the game. Kelly was replaced by John Galloway, who did a great job in goal as well. But again, when one thinks about Canada as Team USA’s next opponent, this is cause for concern.
The matchup between Team Canada and Team USA looks to be a spirited contest that should delight lacrosse fans. The USA soundly defeated Canada in 2010 regular play only to have Canada outsmart and out plan them to win the gold.
It will be interesting to see if this game brings a “run and gun” style of play with a lot of strong goals or if Team Canada brings back its “slow and steady” pace that stunned Team USA. Both Canada and the USA have 2-0 records heading into the contest.
Australia faces the Iroquois Nationals later today.
