We’ve only been back from Israel for a few weeks and we’re gearing up for our second long-haul trip to another of the best England Lacrosse away destinations.
Uncle Sam, the States, the Land of Opportunity, or just plain old America, whatever you call the big mass of land just across the Atlantic Ocean from us, the United States of America is one heck of a place and is where some of the best lacrosse in the world is played.
In fact, it is where, thanks to the Native American communities that live there, the fastest sport on two feet was born.
It’s fair to say England teams have had a lot of fun across the pond over the years and we’ve picked two memorable moments for you to delve a little deeper into.
Travel with us around four and a half thousand miles and pretend, for a few minutes at least, you’re back in America ready to play or watch some quality lacrosse…
1982 Men’s World Lacrosse Championship
This fourth edition of the Men's World Lacrosse Championship was the first time the USA hosted the tournament and the city the whole lacrosse world was looking towards was Baltimore, Maryland on the east coast of the country.
This was a tough tournament for England to say the least; only four teams participated (England, Australia, USA, Canada) and it was always going to be tough for England to overcome these great lacrosse powerhouses.
Despite their best efforts, England finished bottom of the pile having picked up no points from their three games, being comprehensively beaten in each (5-25 vs Australia, 8-26 vs Canada, 9-26 vs USA).
One tiny glimmer of light from this 1982 tournament was that England defender, Jeff Mounkley, was chosen as part of the All World Team.
Arguably one of the greatest English defenders of all time, Mounkley continued the tradition of England defenders making the All World Team that Steve Bevington began four years earlier at the 1978 Men’s World Lacrosse championship.
Although England finished fourth, this edition of the competition paved the way for future tournaments culminating in the 2018 Championship in which 46 teams took part!
You can watch the semi-final between Australia and USA above.
2005 Women’s World Lacrosse Championship
This seventh edition of the Women’s World Lacrosse Championship was also held in Maryland but this time it was the city of Annapolis that welcomed the world of lacrosse through its doors.
Anyone who remembers this 2005 competition will understand why we’ve chosen this as one of England’s most memorable visits to the USA as they finished third out of 10 teams.
As seems to be a consistent trend, England were drawn in a tough top division for the pool stages containing USA, Australia, Canada, and Wales.
The first game vs USA gave the England team some real hope they could compete at the highest level as they lost 5-13, a relatively close score.
An 11-6 win in their second game over Canada and a 6-2 win over close rivals Wales bookended a 4-14 loss to Australia and saw England book themselves a Classification Play-off game vs Germany.
To say this play-off game was a routine win is a bit of an understatement as England saw off Germany 22-0 to make it through to the quarter-finals where they would play Wales for the second time in the competition.
A tight and feisty contest led to a low-scoring game that finished 6-5 to England and set up a huge semi-final against USA.
Now, this was always going to be difficult but to be within one game of a World Championship final was exciting and despite a 3-13 loss in the end, it gave England real confidence they could come away with a bronze medal in the third place game vs Canada.
Filled with adrenaline after their semi-final and with a win against Canada already earlier in the competition, England went in to the third-place game determined to bring home the bronze medal.
And that’s exactly what they did as they stunned a really good Canadian team defeating them 11-8.
This would be England’s third bronze medal in a row at World Championships and this tournament was also notable as one of only two World Championships at which USA failed to win gold!
You can watch some of the final between Australia and USA above.
There you have it, a little trip down memory lane. There are so many great occasions we’ve had in USA that we could write an entire book (now there’s an idea!) but we reckon these trips are two of the most memorable.
Where will we travel to next? Once we’ve got over the terrible jet-lag we’ll be back on our virtual plane to yet another best England Lacrosse away destination!