LONDON, Ontario – Brendan Mundorf (Denver Outlaws, UMBC) scored four first-half goals and assisted on two others to lift Australia to an 11-3 lead and eventual 21-8 victory over the Iroquois Nationals in the bronze medal game of the 2006 International Lacrosse Federation (ILF) World Championships today under cloudy skies at the University of Western Ontario’s TD Waterhouse Stadium.

The Australians (4-4) claimed their sixth bronze medal in ILF play (including the unofficial 1967 championships), and they avenged a 12-10 loss to Iroquois (3-3) in round-robin play at this event.

"It was good to come out here and take care of business. Our sights were set a little higher, but it was good to finish off the tournament with a big win like that," said Mundorf, who finished with nine points. "I think we underestimated them a little bit [in the round-robin game]."

Australia appeared fully focused this time around.

Nathan Stiglich scored twice to key a 5-0, game-opening run for Australia. Mundorf fed him for a marker at 12:05, then followed with an unassisted goal at 8:36, leaving the Iroquois to ponder their five-goal deficit during the first media timeout. Brett Bucktooth countered with the first of his team-high six markers to help the Iroquois briefly close to 5-2, but Mundorf played a role in the next three goals to give Australia command, 8-2.

Bucktooth and Delby Powless scored early in the second half to bring the Iroquois Nationals within 12-5, but that would be as close as they would get. Mundorf, Josh Ardossi and David Whiteman tallied consecutively in the third period’s final seven minutes to provide a 10-goal margin and pave the way for an uneventful final quarter.

"We just didn’t have it today," said Powless, whose two goals shared for the team lead with Bucktooth and Cory Bomberry. "They played well. We made a bunch of mistakes and shot ourselves in the foot.

"We did a lot better on ground balls and faceoffs – the fundamental things [in the round-robin game]. They made good on their chances. They controlled the ball and controlled the entire game, pretty much."

Peter Inge (11-14) and Ryan Stark (9-13) dominated the X and gave the Australians a decided edge in possessions. They outshot the Iroquois 39-18 and had two separate scoring runs of 5-0.

"We came over here to play in the gold-medal round," said Australian coach Peter Brown. "We prepared so well from a physical perspective that we had a shot at it. In hindsight, we hadn’t played enough together. The first time our 23 played together was the first game agains the U.S.

"We have some great kids at home. It’s a matter of rebuilding and identifying what our weaknesses are," Brown said in regards to prepping for the 2010 ILF championships in England.

For statistics, visit the event Web site at www.2006worldlacrosse.com.

The United States and Canada face off at 3:30 p.m. Eastern for the 2006 ILF championship. The game will be broadcast live by US Lacrosse partner CSTV. Postgame stories and photos will be posted to www.laxmagazine.com and www.uslacrosse.org.