Canada gives up lead, falls to U.S. at under-19 lacrosse world championships

COQUITLAM, B.C. — Canada had to settle for silver at the under-19 world lacrosse championships after falling to the United States 13-12 in the championship game on Saturday.

The Canadian side looked to have the gold medal locked up with a 12-9 lead midway through the fourth quarter, but the Americans scored four unanswered goals in the final eight minutes for their eighth straight U-19 title. The U.S. has won every tournament since it began in 1988.

“They got going on the faceoffs… we were good there in the first half. And in the second they got a few in a row and that kind of swung momentum their way,” said Canadian coach Taylor Wray.

“Lacrosse is a game of runs and when you score and you win a faceoff, and you score and win a faceoff, it’s tough to break that momentum.”

Ryan Conrad had two goals for the Americans, including the winner at 19:52 of the fourth.

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“Honestly, I just threw it, I didn’t really see it because I got crushed right after I hit it, so when I heard the cheers, that is when I knew it went in,” said Conrad. 

“Everything you do leading up to this game is how you make plays like that.”

Mac O’Keefe, Simon Mathias, Timmy Kelly and Alex Roesner also had two goals apiece while Michael Sowers, Jared Bernhardt and Dox Aitken scored the others for the U.S.

Treton Leclaire led the way with three goals for the Canadians, who also had a 6-0 lead to start the game and an 8-2 advantage at the half. Tanner Cook and Ethan Walker each struck twice while Riley Curtis, Ryan Lanchbury, Justin Inacio, Ryaln Rees and Jeff Teat added singles. 

Willie Klan stopped 8-of-20 shots for the win as Kyle Hebert turned away 10-of-23 shots in a losing cause.

“To be in a one-goal game with these guys on this stage… that is what I figured it would be. I didn’t think it would continue 8-2 or a six-goal spread. You knew they were going to come back and I figured it would be like this at the end,” said Wray.

“When we got to 12-9 I thought, ‘alright if we can get the ball and control the tempo a little bit here, we’ll be alright.’ And then they scored… and I felt like if we can get the next one we’ll be in great shape and we never got the ball back.”

Earlier in the day, the Iroquois Nationals beat Australia 20-8 for bronze.

The Canadian Press