The 2014 World Lacrosse Championship was held July 10–19 at Dick's Sporting Goods Park outside Denver, Colorado. 38 nations played 142 games in this international men's lacrosse championship tournament organized by the Federation of International Lacrosse. Nine nations—Belgium, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Israel, Russia, Thailand, Turkey, and Uganda—all competed in the event for the first time.
In the championship game on July 19, Canada captured its third gold medal by upsetting the United States 8–5 in front of 11,861 fans. Canadian goalie Dillon Ward was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player after he made 10 saves in the championship game, becoming the first goalie to ever receive the honor.
The Iroquois Nationals finished third by defeating Australia 16–5 in the bronze medal game. It marked the first time the Iroquois earned a medal at the World Lacrosse Championship, as well as the first time the Australians failed to earn a medal since 1974.
US Lacrosse, the national host, organized a lacrosse festival for boys' and men's lacrosse teams to play alongside the world championships. Players from around the world competed in 11 age divisions from U11 to 60-and-over.
Pool play
For pool play, participating nations were separated into nine divisions. The countries with the top six rankings—Australia, Canada, England, Iroquois, Japan, and the United States—competed in the Blue Division, where the top two teams advanced to the semifinals and the next two teams advanced to the quarterfinals. In the other divisions, each first through fourth place teams were placed in first through fourth play-in brackets.
Blue Division After not competing in the 2010 tournament in England due to passport issues, the Iroquois Nationals had to appeal to the FIL to play in the elite Blue Division, usually reserved for the top six teams from the previous championship. After originally placing Germany in the Blue Division, the FIL granted the Iroquois' appeal in 2013.
Team USA coasted through the Blue Division games, only tested by Canada's early 3-0 lead in the opening game of the tournament. But the U.S. scored the next eight goals and ended up putting away their strongest rival 10-7. Canada also easily defeated the lower ranked teams, but needed a goal from Curtis Dickson with 19 seconds remaining to beat the Iroquois Nationals 9-8.
Iroquois, Australia, Japan, and England played several close games for the right to get to the championship bracket. Japan lost a double-overtime game vs Australia but won in overtime over England.
10 July 2014 10–7 11 July 2014 14–13 (2OT) 4–15 12 July 2014 9–24 7–16 23–3 13 July 2014 21–3 8–9 7–10 14 July 2014 3–20 1–20 12–10 15 July 2014 12–13 (OT) 5–18 4–12
Green Division
11 July 2014Netherlands 19–4 ChinaItaly 14–9 Norway12 July 2014Norway 12–11 (OT) NetherlandsChina 5–18 Italy13 July 2014Netherlands 14–8 ItalyChina 3–20 Norway
Grey Division
11 July 2014Czech Republic 12–3 TurkeyPoland 23–1 Costa Rica12 July 2014Turkey 7–9 PolandCosta Rica 1–18 Czech Republic13 July 2014Czech Republic 9–8 PolandTurkey 11–2 Costa Rica
Orange Division
11 July 2014Sweden 4–19 IsraelSlovakia 15–6 Korea12 July 2014Korea 5–21 SwedenIsrael 17–2 Slovakia13 July 2014Israel 19–2 KoreaSweden 18–9 Slovakia
Plum Division
11 July 2014Wales 10–2 RussiaNew Zealand 19–2 Argentina12 July 2014Wales 11–2 ArgentinaRussia 5–16 New Zealand13 July 2014Wales 5–13 New ZealandRussia 5–2 Argentina
Red Division
11 July 2014Hong Kong 13–12 (OT) AustriaGermany 12–4 Belgium12 July 2014Austria 2–20 GermanyHong Kong 11–9 Belgium13 July 2014Belgium 1–14 AustriaGermany 21–2 Hong Kong
Turquoise Division
11 July 2014Finland 19–0 ColombiaSpain 10–14 Mexico12 July 2014Colombia 2–14 SpainFinland 18–3 Mexico13 July 2014Colombia 6–12 MexicoFinland 18–1 Spain
White Division
11 July 2014Latvia 5–10 SwitzerlandScotland 24–3 Thailand12 July 2014Switzerland 6–20 ScotlandThailand 11–14 Latvia13 July 2014Thailand 7–11 SwitzerlandScotland 17–7 Latvia
Yellow Division
11 July 2014Bermuda 9–7 FranceIreland 17–1 Uganda 12 July 2014Uganda 5–14 BermudaFrance 5–22 Ireland13 July 2014Uganda 2–9 FranceIreland 14–5 Bermuda
Play-in brackets Play-in games were played between the teams of all divisions except Blue.
First qualified teams
Scotland and Israel advanced to the quarterfinals.
Second qualified teams
Third qualified teams
Fourth qualified teams
Championship bracket After losing to the United States 10–7 in the first game of the tournament, Canada dominated the championship game. They played a deliberate, slow-down offense that is allowed under international rules, combined with strong defense, ground ball play, and goaltending. Like in the first game, Canada jumped out to an early lead, 2–0 after the first quarter. Team USA managed only one goal in the first half, and only put 5 shots on net. At the half, Canada was up 3–1, with Kevin Crowley scoring all three Canadian goals. Crowley got two more in the second half to lead all scorers with 5 points. Canada played even better in the third quarter, scoring five straight goals to increase its lead to 8–2 in the first minutes of the final period. The U.S. added three goals at the end to make the final score 8–5, but they were never in the game in the fourth quarter. Tournament MVP Dillon Ward made 10 saves in goal for Canada. U.S. attackmen Kevin Leveille had three goals and Rob Pannell had three assists.
In the third place game, the Iroquois Nationals easily defeated Australia 16–5 to earn their first medal in international men's field lacrosse. The team earned 4th place in the 1998, 2002, and 2006 tournaments but didn't compete in 2010. The Thompson brothers – Jeremy, Hiana, Miles and Lyle – combined for six goals and five assists.
Classification brackets
5th to 8th place Despite falling to rival England in the fifth-place game, Scotland earned its best-ever finish at the championships by placing sixth. The Scottish team defeated Japan in the previous contest, and are expected to replace the Japanese in the elite Blue Division at the next world championship tournament.
Playing in its first-ever world championships, Israel very nearly duplicated Scotland's feat, twice narrowly falling in games that could have advanced the team into the Blue Division. After reaching the quarterfinals, the Israelis led Australia in the third quarter before dropping a tough 9-8 decision. Then in a placement round game, Israel made a dramatic comeback to push England to overtime before suffering a 10-9 setback. Israel finished seventh after defeating Blue Division squad Japan.
9th to 12th Place
13th to 16th Place
17th to 20th place
21st to 24th Place
25th to 28th place
29th to 32nd Place
33rd to 38th place
Final standings RankTeam 2 7 6 1 91 39 +52 1 7 6 1 112 34 +78 3 8 5 3 96 75 +21 4 48 3 5 62 106 -44 5 6 8 3 5 67 106 -39 6 1 8 6 2 117 68 +49 7 1 8 6 2 120 47 +73 8 5 8 2 6 77 124 -47 9 Germany1 8 6 2 87 59 +28 10 Ireland 1 8 6 2 105 63 +42 11 Sweden 2 8 6 2 94 63 +31 12 New Zealand 1 8 4 4 98 75 +23 13 Finland 1 8 6 2 98 40 +58 14 Czech Republic 1 7 4 3 69 46 +23 15 Switzerland 28 5 3 63 67 -4 16 Netherlands 1 7 2 5 72 69 +3 17 Wales 2 7 5 2 81 52 29 18 Italy 2 8 5 3 97 89 +8 19 Latvia 38 5 3 113 81 +32 20 Poland 2 7 3 4 78 59 +19 21 Hong Kong 2 8 5 3 78 103 -25 22 Turkey 3 8 4 4 50 55 -5 23 Mexico 2 7 3 4 58 72 -14 24 Bermuda 2 7 2 5 64 86 -22 25 Norway3 7 5 2 88 63 +25 26 Slovakia3 7 3 4 57 70 -13 27 Belgium 4 8 4 4 60 61 -1 28 Austria3 8 3 5 71 70 +1 29 Thailand48 4 4 81 82 -1 30 3 7 2 5 49 83 -34 31 France3 7 2 5 50 76 -26 32 Russia3 8 2 6 46 80 -34 33 China 4 7 3 4 61 101 -40 34 Uganda 4 7 2 5 40 78 -38 35 Korea 4 7 2 5 70 91 -21 36 Argentina 4 7 1 6 38 71 -33 37 Colombia 4 6 1 5 28 74 -46 38 Costa Rica 4 6 0 6 15 104 -89
Awards The following awards were given out at the end of the tournament.
MVP: Dillon Ward Outstanding Attackman: Rob Pannell Outstanding Midfielder: Paul Rabil Outstanding Defenseman: Tucker Durkin Outstanding Goalie: Dillon Ward
All-World Team AttackMidfieldDefenseGoaltender Curtis Dickson Rob Pannell Lyle Thompson Paul Rabil Jeremy Thompson David Lawson Tucker Durkin Brodie Merrill Kyle Rubisch Dillon Ward
The President's Team The President's Team consisted of the following players, honored for being the top 10 players in the tournament not competing in the Blue Division.
Kyle Buchanan Ryan Licht Matt MacGrotty Jimmy McBride Jordan McBride Jonathan Munk Kevin Powers Ben Smith Ari Sussman James Van de Veerdon
See also Federation of International Lacrosse, the unified governing body for world lacrosse founded in 2008 World Lacrosse Championship Field lacrosse
References
External links Official Website Federation of International Lacrosse Denver 2014 tag at Lacrosse All Stars