Canada falls to USA in final
The Canadian Women’s Box Lacrosse team won the inaugural silver medal at the World Lacrosse Box Championships in Utica, N.Y. Sunday afternoon.
All tournament long the women’s team made history; scoring the first ever women’s goal, winning the first ever women’s game, becoming the first women’s team to advance to the elimination round, and capping it off by winning the silver medal.
Canada came into this game as the favourites after scoring 165 goals while only surrendering five through the round robin and their quarter and semi final matches. But it was the USA that got on the board first and erupted the crowd and gained momentum early.
Ally Kennedy scored 53 seconds into the game. This was the first time all tournament long Canada was trailing in a game.
The USA’s lead grew in the second when Ally Mastroianni scored her 10th goal of the tournament just over a minute into the second. Later in the quarter, Canada got on the board when Brooklyn Walker-Welch tallied her second goal of the tournament to cut the lead to one at halftime.
Dana Dobbie tied the game up with a fabulous dunk from behind the net to make it a 2-2 game three minutes into the quarter. Katy de Snoo then broke the deadlock to lead by one after coming around the net getting past her defender and ripping a shot past USA goaltender Ingrid Boyum. The USA responded with just under six minutes to play in the quarter when Erin Bakes blasted a shot past Canadian goaltender Kayla Kondo to make it a 3-3 game. Canada would not go away. While on the powerplay, Megan Kinna dipped and faked Boyum out of position to restore the one-goal lead and lead 4-3 heading into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter saw Livy Rosenzweig tie it up at 4 before Harlow Steele weaved her way through the entire USA defence to make it a 5-4 game, but that wouldn’t last long as Rosenzweig tied it up again at 5. A huge moment in the game occurred when Canada had a 5-on-3 power play and was unable to capitalize on it, but just as the penalties ended, Erica Evans sprung on a breakaway and buried it to make it a 6-5. It would then be Evans feeding Dacia Cordingley to give Canada their first two-goal lead of the game. Shortly after the ensuing faceoff, Rosenzweig tallied her hat trick goal to make it 7-6 with seven minutes to play. The game would be tied up again after an awkward ball was deflected in by a Canadian defender that Riley Ewing would be credited for. Bakes would then make it an 8-7 game for the USA and Charlotte North added one more to make it a two-goal advantage. Canada would then call a timeout with 1:29 left in the game and Cordingley would hit the post and that’s as close as they came. The USA added one more to win 10-7.
Canada’s Erica Evans was the tournament’s top goal scorer with 33 goals and 55 points.
Canada would like to thank all their fans, friends, family and supporters throughout the tournament.
About Lacrosse Canada
Founded in 1867, Lacrosse Canada is the governing body responsible for all aspects of lacrosse in Canada. Our organization is comprised of 11 Member Associations representing nearly 85,000 individual participants, including coaches, officials, and athletes of all ages and abilities. Lacrosse Canada’s mission is to honour the sport of lacrosse and its unique nation-building heritage, by engaging our members, leading our partners, and providing opportunities for all Canadians to participate. Lacrosse Canada oversees the delivery of numerous national championships and the participation of Team Canada at all international events sanctioned by World Lacrosse. Lacrosse Canada is proud to be affiliated with partners that share the same vision and values, including our corporate partners - Nike, CoachThem, Gait, Cascade, Normatec, Zoll, Signature Lacrosse, and Baron Rings - as well as our funding partners the Government of Canada, the Coaching Association of Canada, and the Canadian Lacrosse Foundation.
For more information, please contact:
Kealan Pilon
Communications Coordinator
Lacrosse Canada
Email: kealan@lacrosse.ca
