2018 World Lacrosse Championships

Iroquois Nationals Staff Writers
Contact: info@IroquoisNationals.org

August 3, 2018, Haudenosaunee Territory – The Iroquois Nationals arrive in Netanya, Israel to participate in the Federation of International Lacrosse World Championships.

The road to the lacrosse world games had a few bumps and spins for the Haudenosaunee’s national sport team this year but they landed on their feet physically and spiritually.

The Iroquois Nationals’ air flight to Israel departed from Toronto, Canada on Wednesday, July 11th, a two-day delay from the originally flight scheduled for Monday July 9th. The July 9th delay opened international discussions around the Haudenosaunee country code “HAU”. Country codes are used by the airlines for data interfacing.
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From FIL Lacrosse

NETANYA, ISRAEL – The Iroquois Nationals staved off a late comeback attempt from Australia at the 2018 FIL Men’s World Championship, 14-12, to claim its second consecutive bronze medal at Wingate Sports Institute. This is also the second medal ever won by the Iroquois Nationals. The FIL Men’s World Championship featured the 22 placement games Friday for 3rdto 45thplace. This year’s rendering was the largest field with 46 teams competing July 11-21 for the coveted World Championship.

Austin Staats and his older brother, Randy, jumpstarted the Iroquois Nationals with three combined goals, for an early 7-2 lead over Australia into the third quarter. Both teams exchanged goals for 17 minutes in the third and fourth quarters, with the Iroquois Nationals holding a 12-6 lead. Australia’s Nigel Morton scored three of his four goals in the last 22:53 of the game, making a comeback a close reality. Australia outscored the Iroquois in this stretch 6-2.

“We don’t ever want to stop running and we had a little slow moment at the end and they made it a game,” said Austin Staats. “We tried to make sure that they didn’t come back and force OT. We do this for our people and we have them cheering all over the world. For our organization it is the second medal ever. We just want to keep this tradition going.”

Iroquois Nationals’ goalie Warren Hill, who was getting peppered with shots, stood big in the cage, making an unbelievable amount of saves in the waning moments of the game. Australia outshot the Iroquois Nationals, 43-32. Hill blocked 16 shots, finishing with a 57 percent save ratio.

“It’s awesome, you know we would have like to have competed for that gold or silver medal, but we didn’t want to go home empty handed,” said Hill. “With this being our second medal ever, we wanted to make a tradition that we want to medal every time we’re here. We got a little complacent with that big lead from the first half. We knew in our heads that we weren’t going to let them get the lead. It was definitely hectic at the end.”

From FIL Lacrosse
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The Iroquois Nationals came from behind for another win and advanced to the semifinals on Thursday, after defeating Puerto Rico, 14-7. The Iroquois, down 3-0 after the first, came back with a five-goal second quarter to tie the game up. Five different players scored for the Iroquois Nationals in the second, and the team only took 12 shots.

The precision shots continued in the second half as six different players scored during the Iroquois Nationals’ 9-2 run. The defensive unit for the Iroquois Nationals was stingy in the last three quarters, keeping Puerto Rico to 18 total shots. The Iroquois Nationals converted 9 of their 20 shots in the second half.

“We didn’t want to lose today and end our World Championship here, and we just battled back from a bad first half and got the win tonight,” said Austin Staats. “We just needed to get that first one to get rolling for a little spark to make a fire and we got it going.”

Kyle Jackson and Austin Staats each scored three goals. Randy Staats, Miles Thompson, and Ty Thompson deposited two goals each. Puerto Rico’s Kevin McNally scored three times and Desiderio Gonzalez had two goals.

Up next, Iroquois Nationals advance to the semifinals against Canada, set for Thursday at 6 p.m. from Wingate Field No. 1. Puerto Rico drops to the consolation bracket and is paired up with England on Thursday at 9:45 p.m. from Wingate Field No. 4. The consolation bracket determines 5th-8thplace winners.

Thompson brothers with an Israeli intern.

Denise at our fundraising table selling Iroquois Nationals t-shirts. (Chinese team)

Lyle Thompson with team Uganda.

Post game with Paul Rabil of Team USA

NETANYA, Israel – Despite a three-day travel delay, the Iroquois Nationals arrived just in time on July 12 for opening ceremonies and their first game against Team USA in the 2018 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championships.

After passport procedural issues prevented the team from leaving Canada on Monday, FIL officials worked diligently with Canada and Israel to ensure the team’s Haudenosaunee passports were honored by Canada and Israel. As defending Bronze medalists and originators of the game of lacrosse, the presence of the Iroquois Nationals is fundamental to the World Games.

FIL CEO Jim Scherr said, “FIL and the local organizing committee worked with both the Canadian and Israeli governments to resolve the travel restrictions involving the Iroquois Nationals leaving North America. We are pleased that the Iroquois Nationals arrived in Israel and are scheduled to play their first game Thursday night against Team USA. It is important for the sport of Lacrosse to have the top three returning medalists from the 2014 World Championship in Netanya.”

The team finally was able to travel from Toronto on Wednesday but faced additional flight delays that caused the team to arrive around noon on Thursday, only hours before their first match. After clearing customs with his Haudenosaunne passport, Team Captain Jeremy Thompson said the team was in good spirits. “It’s been a long journey to get here but we kept our spirit and we made sure we stayed together as a team. We remained upbeat. It’s the World Championship and it’s good to be here.”

The Iroquois checked in to their hotel at 2pm, ate and rested for two hours before they marched in the Men’s Lacrosse World Championship Opening Ceremonies at 6:30pm. The team then faced off against the USA in a shootout that ended with a score of 17-9 for the USA.

FIL coverage of the first match between the Iroquois Nationals and USA is here: https://filacrosse.com/usa-and-iroquois-nationals-shootout-closes-out-opening-ceremonies-day-of-2018-fil-mens-world-championship-host-country-israel-opens-with-win-over-jamaica/

Next, the Iroquois Nationals take on England on Saturday, July 14th. The schedule of games is here: http://worldlacrosse2018.com/schedule-app/

The 2018 FIL Men’s World Championship preliminary competition is set from July 11-16, with pool finals and crossover competition starting on July 15. After 169 games of competition, the 2018 FIL Men’s World Championship gold medalist will be crowned on July 21 at Netanya Stadium. Teams will compete in a total of six to eight games each during the 10-day event, with all teams playing to a final placement. 2018 FIL Men’s World Championship schedule.

ESPN and ESPN+ will broadcast the games in the United States from start to finish with 10 days of play on ESPN2 and ESPNU for 14 games, and more than 160 games available on the ESPN+, the first-ever multi-sport, direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service. The FIL Men’s World Championship will also be available in Canada on TSN and locally in Israel on Sport 5. Fans will be able to watch the games in more than 50 countries. The FIL Men’s World Championship Broadcast schedule and links is here.

Team Captain Jeremy Thompson proudly displays his Haudenosaunee passport; the Iroquois have been traveling on their own passports for decades. – photo courtesy Jeremy Thompson

The Iroquois Nationals arrive at customs in Tel Avis en route to the 2018 FIL Men’s World Championships – photo by Tracy Rector

Iroquois Nationals 2018 Men’s Team at the Opening Ceremonies – photo by Tracy Rector