2014 World Lacrosse Championships

The world’s best lacrosse players are gathering this week in Colorado for the World Lacrosse Championship. On the fields, you’ll see players from Austria, Uganda, Japan and, of course America, competing for their countries.

Yet one of the tournament’s favored teams doesn’t represent a country — technically speaking. The team represents the Iroquois nation, whose people traditionally live in the Northeastern United States and parts of Canada.

Read more and listen to the interview at Colorado Public Radio

As Warren Hill stood between the pipes, poised for an incredible challenge — his Iroquois Nation vs. the United States — he spied his idol, Jesse Schwartzman, at the opposite end of the field. Never too cool to be impressed, Hill was thrilled.

“To tell you the truth it was really cool,” he admitted. “Growing up, when I first started watching lacrosse in about eighth grade or ninth grade, he was at [Johns] Hopkins. I would be glued to the TV screen every Saturday morning, watching him play. Playing against him all these years later was a pretty cool experience.”

Read more at LaxMagazine.com | Photo by Scott McCall

It’s been nearly a decade since the Iroquois Nationals have played in the World Lacrosse Championships. Now, the only indigenous lacrosse team competing internationally as a sovereign nation, is in Denver aiming to compete for the gold medal.

“This is sort of like the redemption tour for our guys,” said Marty Ward, goalie on the 27-man roster.

So far they’ve won three of their four games with a crucial contest against the USA coming Tuesday. In 2010, the Iroquois Nationals made international headlines when they were forced to forfeit the Lacrosse World Championships in England. The group was travelling on their Iroquois nation’s own passports.

Read more at CBC News | Photo by Kenny Frost

After a two-hour weather delay, the Iroquois Nationals were able to outscore Australia 4-2 late Monday night to earn a 12-10 win and improve to 3-1 in the Blue Division at the FIL World Lacrosse Championships.

Tied 8-8 with about two minutes and thirty seconds remaining in the third quarter, a thunderstorm rolled into Denver and led to a delay, that forced the Iroquois, the Australians and the fans in attendance to seek shelter in the main stadium while the rain came pouring down.

Following a clutch save by Tom Vickery on Cody Jamieson, the Iroquois would break the tie with six seconds left in the third when Jeremy Thompson scored after the Nationals broke up the clear attempt.

Read more at Inside Lacrosse | Photo by Anna Scipione