U.S. Sweeps Under-19 World Lacrosse Championships

TOWSON, Md. — The United States swept the men's and women's Under-19 world lacrosse championships on Saturday evening at Towson University. The men's team defeated Canada 19-10 to win the International Lacrosse Federation championship. The women's team defeated Australia 21-8 to win the International Federation of Women's Lacrosse Associations championship.

In the men's final, the U.S. jumped out to a 6-0 lead just over nine minutes into the game and maintained its six-goal advantage at the halftime break with an 11-5 lead. Midfielder Greg Peyser scored four first-half goals for the U.S. and added an assist while winning six-of-seven faceoffs in the stanza. Peyser finished the game winning 10-of-12 faceoffs to help the U.S. to a 19-11 advantage in that category.

Canada closed the gap to 12-8 with 3:37 remaining in the third quarter on a goal by Andrew Watt, but the U.S. got goals from Matt Zash and Patrick Walsh in the final 64 seconds of the third quarter to stretch the lead back to six and Canada was unable to get any closer.

Peyser and Walsh each had four goals for the U.S. with Walsh adding three assists. Zack Greer and Watt led Canada with three goals each while Craig Conn had two goals and three assists. The U.S. men won the ILF U-19 championship for the fifth straight time and are now 29-0 all-time in U-19 international play.

In the women's final, the United States raced out to a commanding 9-0 lead in the first 12 minutes of the game behind the play of midfielder Kathleen Miller. Miller assisted on the first goal of the game and then scored three of the next four goals. Miller, Kristen Waagbo and Coco Stanwick all had four goals for the United States while Krista Pellizzi and Rachel Sanford had three goals each.

Australia scored two of the last three goals of the first half and then scored first in the second half to pull within 12-4, but never got closer. Talia Shacklock scored all three of those goals for Australia and finished with a team-high four goals. Kate McHarg had three goals and an assist for Australia.

The championship was the second straight for the U.S. in the International Federation of Women's Lacrosse Associations U-19 World Championship. The U.S. also defeated Australia in the 1999 final. Australia beat the U.S. in the inaugural IFWLA U-19 championship in 1995.

In other games from Saturday at the U-19 World Lacrosse Championships:
Men's 7th place: South Korea 14, Wales 6
Brian Park and Ben Barchey each scored three goals as South Korea pulled away to claim seventh place. The score was tied 2-2 after the first quarter before South Korea outscored Wales 4-0 in the second quarter. Steve McDermott led Wales with three goals.

Women's 5th place: Japan 17, Wales 7
Miharu Nagaoka and Kaori Senzui each had five goals and four assists as Japan defeated Wales for fifth place. Wales pulled to within 8-4 early in the second half, but Kanako Hattori scored back-to-back goals for Japan and Wales could get no closer. Emma Chandler led Wales with three goals.

Men's 5th place: Iroquois Nation 21, Japan 6
Iroquois Nation goalie Ross Bucktooth made 11 saves while allowing just one goal in 47 minutes of action and scored two goals and had two assists from his goaltending position to lead the Iroquois Nation past Japan for fifth place. Iroquois led 14-0 at halftime. Brandon Francis had four goals and Mitch Nanticoke had three goals for Iroquois. Hiroaki Okada had one goal and three assists for Japan.

Women's 3rd place: Canada 16, England 10
Emma-Lee Harrison had six goals to lead Canada to its second straight third place finish at the International Federation of Women's Lacrosse Associations U-19 World Championship. England led 6-4 midway through the first half before Harrison scored three straight goals to put Canada in front. After England's Jo Lupton scored to tie it 7-7, Canada scored the final three goals of the first half and England never got closer than two the rest of the way. Awehiyo Thomas had two goals and two assists for Canada. Charlotte Stoot led England with three goals.

Men's 3rd place: Australia 12, England 11
Nick LeGuen scored the go-ahead goal with 1:45 remaining in the game and Australia goalie Chris Tillotson made three saves in the final minute to preserve the Aussies 12-11 victory over England for third place. England took a 10-8 lead on a goal by Paul Flowers with 18:46 to play, but Australia scored the next three goals to take an 11-10 lead. Flowers again came up big for England, scoring with 2:26 left to tie the score 11-11, but LeGuen answered just 41 seconds later. Stephen Mortimer led Australia with four goals while Thomas Gosnay had three for England. Tillotson played the second half of the game for Australia and made nine saves while allowing six goals.

International Lacrosse Federation (Men's) All-World Team
Attack - *Matt Danowski, United States
Attack - Scott Janssen, Canada
Attack - Josh Ardossi, Australia
Midfield - *Greg Peyser, United States
Midfield - Zack Greer, Canada
Midfield - Jeremy Thompson, Iroquois
Defense - *Steve Panarelli, United States
Defense - Brett Moyer, United States
Defense - Rhian Barr, Australia
Goal - *Ross Bucktooth, Iroquois

* Voted outstanding player at each position for the tournament
Most Valuable Player: Matt Danowski, United States

For complete scores and stats on the 2003 Under-19 World Championships hosted by US Lacrosse, visit www.uslacrosse.org/news/u19results.phtml.

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