England teams march on to Euros semi-finals
England’s men’s and women’s teams both qualified for the 2026 European Box Lacrosse Championships semi-finals on an exciting day in Prague, Czechia yesterday.
England Men, having overcome Belgium in their play-in game the previous day, were looking for back to back victories for the first time at this 2026 Euros and it was Israel, who finished second in the Blue Group and had a rest day on Tuesday, who stood in their way.
Despite going down a goal after four minutes, England looked up for this quarter-final match-up and replied with five goals of their own without reply to blow the opposition away in the opening 16 minutes.
Israel came back fighting but England kept plugging away securing a 6-5 win in the second quarter and earning themselves a four-goal cushion heading into the second half.
In a format of the sport that is back and forth by its very nature, the third quarter of this England v Israel tie was something else but with neither team able to get a true foothold.
This suited England, of course, who had the upper hand in terms of goals scored, and they entered the fourth and final quarter 12-8 up.
A Tom Roper goal early in the final period saw England up by five and despite a nervy final 10 minutes where Jean-Luc Chetner scored two for Israel, England saw out the win to qualify for a second successive Euros semi-final.
England will play Finland, a team they narrowly lost to in over-time in the group stage, in the semi-final at 6:30pm (UK) later today.
In the women’s competition, England were looking to secure a top four spot in the group and a place in the Euros semi-finals with a win over the Netherlands.
With both teams needing a win to secure that top four finish, it was a tense opening first quarter that yielded just one goal courtesy of England’s top points scorer at this competition, Torz Anderson.
The game began to open up in the second quarter a little but after another England goal from Rosie Bathurst the pendulum swung in the Netherlands’ favour after an impressive four-goal run.
Ellie Racle clawed another back for England to send her team in at half-time just a goal down with the scores at 4-3.
Neither team wanted to lose this game and it showed through the second half, with goals at a premium, but England came through the third quarter with the scoreline level at 5-5.
Another deadlock in the fourth and final quarter with goals from Laura Beaman and Anderson for England and two from Sophie Koedood for the Netherlands meant, for the third time in the tournament, England were heading for over-time.
This period of over-time mirrored how the game had panned out: tense and nervy. But after over seven minutes, up stepped Karma Kabbani to rifle the winner past Darya Saèd and secure England’s progression to the semi-finals.
England will now enjoy a rest day before taking on Germany once again in tomorrow’s semi-final.
Watch every minute of every England game live on YouTube HERE.
England Men Scorers | Zack Gignac (3G, 4A), Will Prescott (2G, 4A), Tom Roper (3G, 2A), Jack Bucknell (2G, 3A), Michael Blaymires (2G, 1A), Jude Krommenhoek (3A), Ollie Allsop (1G, 1A).
England Women Scorers | Torz Anderson (3G, 1A), Ellie Racle (2G, 1A), Rosie Bathurst (1G, 1A), Karma Kabbani (1G, 1A), Amelia Foord (2A), Laura Beaman (1G), Brynn Martin (1A).
Up Next
02/07 | England v Finland | 18:30 (UK) | Men
03/07 | England v Germany | 12:30 (UK) | Women