A third quarter blitz from Australia ended England’s medal hopes at the Men’s World Championship going down 5-10 in the quarter-final match up.

Australia scored six unanswered goals in an, up-to-then, even contest to blow out the game and take the semi-final berth.

England had matched their opponents in a tense and edgy first-half but couldn’t recover after the Aussie streak and will now face Japan in a final game playoff for 5th place.

In a rematch of England’s opening fixture, it was a contest against Australia that stood in the way of a spot in the final four.

As expected, the game got off to a cautious start with both teams aiming to hold on to the ball for long possessions, drawing multiple stall warnings as each side looked for the perfect scoring opportunity.

Goals were traded in the opening 15 minutes, first Lucas Quintiao for Australia and then Tim Collins responded with a clever drive to goal from behind.

There was only a solitary score in Q2 as Australia took a slender lead through Matt Heuston, although England had plenty of opportunities themselves, Drew Bickerton coming the closest but his rapid shot crashed against the crossbar.

Both ‘keepers were also in fine form, William Baxter and opposing number Sean Aaron both making five saves in the first half to dominate the proceedings up until the break.

However, it was in the third quarter where the match was ripped open by Australia.

Brayden Panting scored on a man-up play at the start of the quarter and the Australian dominance continued from there.

Panting himself got a hat-trick while three other Aussies found the back of the net as England struggled to gain possession and were unable to stem the tide from the other side.

At 8-1 at the ¾ time, England came out with nothing to lose for the final quarter and demonstrated what their attack is capable of.

Hugo Peel, Danny Hilditch, and Bickerton all found the back of the net – the first two bagging their first goals of the championship – but scores from Thomas Graham and Lachlan Walker always kept the Aussies out of reach.

Sean Goldsmith rounded off the game, scoring in his fifth of six matches but ultimately England fell short and now have to refocus for Friday’s final placement game.

England will take on Japan (7pm PDT/3am BST), as they did back in 2018, in the 5th place playoff after the previously undefeated Japanese side lost 10-5 to Haudenosaunee.

 Box Score: England – Australia (1-1; 1-2; 1-8; 5-10)

 England Scorers: Danny Hilditch (1G 1A), Drew Bickerton (1G), Tim Collins (1G), Sean Goldsmith (1G), Hugo Peel (1G), Dan Watson (1A)

 Australia Scorers: Brayden Panting (3G), Lachlan Walker (2G 1A), Matt Heuston (2G), Mitchell Baker (1G 1A), Thomas Graham (1G), Lucas Quintiao (1G), Matt Wood (1A)

England win overtime thriller to advance to quarter-finals

Christian Scarpello’s overtime goal earned England a thrilling 7-6 victory against Puerto Rico and advanced the team to the World Championship quarter-finals.

Scarpello’s fourth goal of the game was the decider after England had earlier come from three goals down to lead, only to be pegged back by their talented opposition.

The win sets up a mouth-watering rematch against Australia on Wednesday in the Last 8, with a spot in the semi-finals up for grabs.

England put up perhaps their best performance of the Men’s World Championship so far against Canada but ultimately went down 4-11 to the #2 world ranked side.

With little more than a quarter to play there was only three goals in the game before Canada took the last four goals to pull away as England had eyes on tomorrow’s important play-off match.

Sean Goldsmith led the scoring again for England with two, while Tim Collins and Drew Bickerton both found the net in an enjoyable watch on Monday evening in San Diego.

England were able to outshoot their opponents 21-18 and the 11 goals conceded was the joint fewest ever allowed by England against Canada at a World Championship which was characteristic of a much more proactive defence that caused numerous turnovers and mistakes from Canada throughout.

England were able to dictate the pace of the game for large parts, keeping it a tight battle and it was only a Ryan Lee double last in Q1 that had Canada ahead after Collins had cancelled out Dhane Smith’s opener.

Goldsmith got his first and the first of Q2 to close the gap before Canada hit some form putting up four answered either side of the half to begin to assert their dominance.

But England got a second wind, Goldsmith bullying his way to goal for an exceptional finish, keeping Canada’s Graeme Hossack at bay despite some close attention.

It was then Bickerton’s turn to score an eye catcher and maybe the goal of the day as he dodged inside from behind to take flight and score with the crease dive to make things 4-7.

England did then have a couple more spells of possession before Josh Bryne scored against the run of plan and then Canada racked up three goals without reply to end the game as England’s plans firmly began to switch to Tuesday’s crunch match against Puerto Rico.

Tuesday’s first round play-off against the #12 seeds takes place at 1pm PDT/9pm BST live on ESPN Player ,which should England win, will book them a place in the quarter-finals against either Australia or Netherlands.

Box Score: England – Canada (1-3; 2-6; 4-8; 4-11)

England Scorers: Sean Goldsmith (2G), Drew Bickerton (1G), Tim Collins (1G)
Canada Scorers: Josh Byrne (3G 2A), Connor Fields (2G 1A), Ryan Lee (2G), Dyson Williams (2G), Dhane Smith (1G 1A), Jeff Teat (1G), Wesley Berg (1A)

England were on the receiving end of a ruthless USA performance as they were defeated 18-1 in their third match at the Men’s World Championship.

Rob Pannell led the American attack with four goals and three assists while William Baxter and Hal Dwobeng combined for nine saves in the attempt to repel a USA offense stacked full of PLL professionals.

England finally got on the board in the fourth quarter through Christian Scarpello, but it would be the only score for the Englishmen on a tough afternoon in San Diego.

The USA managed to control the game throughout, scoring four in each of the first two quarters, Pannell scoring a hat-trick, and Matt Rambo two as England pressed hard to contain their professional opponents.

Baxter managed to come up with six first-half saves including three in the space of a minute capped off by a stunning final stop that denied Pannell right on the doorstep as it looked certain he would finish.

USA’s efficiency continued after the break with their dominance at the face-off (19-23) leaving England short of possession and spending long periods in defence.

Six third quarter goals including a Kieran McArdle treble took the lead up to 14 at the 3/4 time and England scoreless up to that point.

But the side kept pushing on and the goal did eventually come with 4:00 to play, a nice face dodge from Scarpello created space to run to goal and score through the goalie’s legs.

The win sealed USA’s spot as the #1 rank for the play-offs, while England now play Canada (7pm PDT/3am BST) in their final Pool Play match before the play-offs begin on Tuesday.

Box Score: England – USA (0-4; 0-8; 0-14; 1-18)

 England Scorers: Christian Scarpello (1G)

 USA Scorers: Rob Pannell (4G 3A), Kieran McArdle (3G 2A), Matt Rambo (3G 1A), Brennan O’Neill (1G 2A), Ryan Conrad (2G), Charlie Bertrand (1G), Liam Brynes (1G), TD Ierlan (1G), Connor Kelly (1G), Michael Sowers (1G), Trevor Baptiste (1A)

Interview: Hear from England midfielder Cam Major for his thoughts after the game, his World Championship experience so far, and the support from the English fans in San Diego.

England were defeated 18-5 by a formidable Haudenosaunee Nationals side in their second Pool Play match in San Diego.

England battled hard and managed to ride with the opposition for much of the first-half, however, the relentless speed and movement of the Haudenosaunee attack eventually paid off as they were able to dominate the scoring after the break.

Sean Goldsmith led for England with three points and there was a first Championship goal for Dan Watson, but they were unable to score with such regularity as their opponents.

England were fairly comfortable in the early exchanges, holding their own and for a while matching the free-scoring Haudenosaunee, taking a 2-1 lead after the opening 10 minutes.

More joy at the face-off gave England good possession and they were more considered with their use of the ball, remaining patient and picking the right scoring chances.

Sean Goldsmith drew plaudits from the crowd for his two first quarter scores, in particular a rasping outside shot that flashed past the National’s goalie to round off the opening quarter, while sandwiched in between Nick DeCaprio converted with a smart bounce shot.

However, Haudenosaunee were still able to score five times in the first quarter, Austin Staats, who would finish with eight goals in the game proving especially deadly.

A quiet Q2 just saw Haudenosaunee add three to their total and England were still in relative touch as the teams took the half-time break.

Another three unanswered after the interval then saw the Nationals begin to pull away and despite an eye-catching individual goal from Christian Scarpello, it was 12-4 at the 3/4 time.

It was a diving effort from Watson as he drove from behind that opened the fina quarter and gave England some momentum, but as they chased more goals at the one end, Haudenosaunee were able to take advantage at the other.

As the world has come to expect, Haudenosaunee dazzled with their stick handling and passing combinations, with 12 of their 18 goals assisted and a late six-goal flurry inflated the final score line for the current bronze medallists.

England now have a rest day on Saturday before they take on World Champions USA at 4pm PDT/12am BST on Sunday.

Box Score: England – Haudenosaunee (3-5; 3-8; 4-12; 5-18)

England Scorers: Sean Goldsmith (2G 1A), Nick DeCaprio (1G), Christian Scarpello (1G), Dan Watson (1G), Danny Hilditch (1A)

Haudenosaunee Scorers: Austin Staats (8G 1A), Lyle Thompson (3G 1A), Zach Miller (2G 1A), Randy Staats (2G 2A), Brendan Bomberry (1G), Jacob Piseno (1G), Larson Sundown (1G), David Jackson (4A), Ron John (1A), Jakob Patterson (1A), Kason Tarbell (1A)

England fell to an opening game defeat at the 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship as Australia recovered from a slow start to win the Pool A contest 8-4.

England raced into a 3-0 lead and kept Australia scoreless for over 23 minutes, but once the Aussie response came there was no counter, and they racked up eight goals on the spin to turn the match on its head.

A late consolation proved just that with Australia keeper Sean Aaron finishing with 11 saves to earn the plaudits, denying the English attack on multiple occasions who outshot the Aussies 25 to 18 but to no avail.

It was initially the goalie in the England net who made their presence felt with William Baxter making more than one point blank save in early exchanges to render the Aussies impotent and allow the boys in red to build up a healthy lead.

First Tim Collins opened the scoring with a sweet shot on a tight angle before Sean Goldsmith showed expert vision to feed Christian Scarpello free on the crease who made no mistake with some neat handling.

And when Michael Pomfret coolly weaved his way through the Australian defence to score with a bouncer midway through Q2, England were three up and in total control.

England then missed a few chances to go further head as Aaron in net began to assert himself on the game and at the other end with 6:30 in the half Australia finally got their breakthrough courtesy of Connor McDonough.

The momentum then swung rapidly as the Aussies put up two more efforts in the space of four minutes to tie a game at the half in which they had been second best for long periods.

 The half-time was a welcome break for England in stemming the Australian tide, however after a quiet start to the third quarter Isaac Cahill and McDonough again both hit within 90 seconds of each other to firmly put their side in the driving seat.

Again, England managed to gain some relative control after the flurry of goals but couldn’t find the score to break the Australian streak with Goldsmith, Nick DeCaprio and Danny Hilditch all having efforts saved by the stubborn Aaron.

The game was then sealed in the space of three minutes in the fourth quarter as Australia scored three more times, demonstrating some ruthless finishing as England struggled for possession.

Goldsmith did finally get on the scoresheet as the clock wound down but the result had already been long settled and despite the lightning start England fell to defeat in San Diego.

England Head Coach, Pat Scarpello, lamented his team’s inability to make their chances pay but backed them to bounce back in the coming games.
“We didn’t finish our opportunities in the first half, we struggled at the face off X, and on the man up we didn’t cash in on any of the chances.

“It’s disappointing but I’m convinced we’re a better squad than that and tomorrow is another opportunity to play to the best of our abilities and there’s plenty of time for us to gel as a team, fix our mistakes and that’s what we’re going to do.”

England are straight back into the action again tomorrow as they take on the Haudenosaunee Nationals at 4pm PDT/12am BST in Pool Play.

Box Score England – Australia: (2-0; 3-3; 3-5; 4-8)
England: Sean Goldsmith (1G 1A), Tim Collins (1G), Michael Pomfret (1G), Christian Scarpello (1G)
Australia: Isaac Cahill (3G), Matt Heuston (2G 1A), Connor McDonough (2G), Matt Wood (1G 1A), Mitchell Baker (1A), Jeff Melsopp (1A)