NETANYA, ISRAEL – Canada earned a gutsy 13-7 win over Australia to finish the preliminary round at the 2018 FIL Men’s Lacrosse World Championship in Netanya, Israel on Tuesday. Canada (4-1) advances directly to the semi-finals, where they will face the Iroquois Nationals, winner of a quarterfinal matchup over Puerto Rico, for a second time this tournament.
After playing their fifth game in as many days, including a late-night matchup against the Iroquois on Monday night, it was clear that fatigue had caught up to the Canadians.
While they got the result they wanted, it was hard work putting away a pesky Australian squad.
“It was a grind,” said head coach Randy Mearns. “We were trying to make sure we were in that semi-final spot, so we needed to get this win today. Australia is very talented and they battled us hard, but we were able to grind it out.”
Crowley led the way for the Canadians with four points, including one goals and three assists.
Ten different players found the back of the net along with Crowley, led by two goal performances from Curtis Dickson, Mark Matthews and Ben McIntosh. Wes Berg, Josh Byrne, Mark Cockerton, Tre Leclaire, Ian MacKay and Jeff Teat were the other goal scorers.
Canada finishing with a slight 32-29 edge in shots.
After exchanging goals in the early minutes of the game, Canada scored five unanswered, spanning the first and second quarters, to take a 6-2 lead. Australia would score three of the next four goals to close out the half and chipped away at the lead, which was down to 7-5.
Canada opened the second half with another offensive outburst, scoring four straight times to help build a comfortable 11-5 lead. The teams went back and forth in the final quarter, but the Aussies were unable to catch up.
“They came out hot today,” said attack Kevin Crowley. “With us playing last night and getting home late, and heat of the mid-day, we came out slow. We knew it could be a factor and we let it be a factor.”
“We turned it around in the second half, but we can’t come out like that in the first half,” he added. “We’ve got to be better moving forward.”
Australia’s leading scorer was Christopher Robertson with three goals, while Christopher Plumb, Nigel Morton, Isaac Cahill and Alex Brown added singles.
Canada and the Iroquois Nationals face off at 11:00am ET. The Australians deafeated Israel 9-6 and will face the USA in the other semi-final at 2 p.m.
The game will be broadcast live on TSN2, TSN.ca and on the TSN App in Canada. Visit http://bit.ly/2018WorldLaxTSN for the complete tournament streaming schedule.
