SAN DIEGO – The Haudenosaunee Nationals started their official quest for gold by defeating 14-seed Hong Kong 13-3 in their first game of the medal rounds at the 2023 World Lacrosse Championship at San Diego State University. The 3-seed coming out of Pool A, the Haudenosaunee offense was once again led by the Staats brothers and a hat trick from Larson Sundown. Austin Staats finished with four goals and three assists to add to his team leading points total and brother Randy finished with a goal and two assists. Goalie Jack VanValkenburgh got the first start of his Haudenosaunee Men’s Team career and finished with three saves on 17 shots faced from Hong Kong. Haudenosaunee used the game to rest some of their veteran players who have logged heavy minutes as they played for the fifth day in a row.  

Hong Kong won the opening faceoff and controlled possession for the first few minutes of the game. They eventually struck first on a driving goal by Evan Mok-Lamme. Randy Staats would respond for Haudenosaunee on a feed from Jake Piseno to tie the game 1-1 with six minutes remaining in the first quarter. Eli McLaughlin followed on a top shelf snipe from the right side on a cross field pass from Thomas Hoggarth. Jake Piseno then picked up a ground ball in the defensive zone and pushed forward in transition to find Ron John streaking wide open down the middle of the field to bury his first goal of the tournament and give Haudenosaunee a 3-1 lead heading to the second quarter.

Haudenosaunee scored first in the second quarter as they worked the ball around to find Austin Staats goal line extended who barreled into the defender to score his first of the game. Austin Staats sniped his second goal of the game from the right side on a pass from behind the net by Randy Staats to extend the lead to 5-1 with just over eight minutes remaining in the half. Austin completed a hat trick in the second quarter alone off a dish from Zach Miller. A. Staats then found Larson Sundown cutting to the net for Sundown’s first goal of the night. Jakob Patterson spun through the defense off a pick from Eli McLaughlin to bounce one home to widen the margin to 8-1 going into halftime.

Kyle Jackson scored first goal of the game two minutes in the third quarter as he dodged left and buried it top shelf from the deep. Randy Staats working behind the net then found Larson Sundown on the short left side for his second goal of the game to make it 10-1 Haudenosaunee. Evan Mok-Lemme responded for Hong Kong as he picked up a ground ball scramble and found space on the left side for a step down shot to cut the lead to 10-2. Keith Tsang followed for Hong Kong after Tony Ko found him sitting in the middle of the defense. Tsang turned and fired to beat Jack VanValkenburgh and shrink the margin to 10-3 heading into the fourth quarter. 

The fourth quarter went back and forth until Thomas Hoggarth got in the scoring column as he cut to the front of the net and buried a feed from Eli McLaughlin to give Haudenosaunee the 11-3 lead. Austin Staats then found Sundown on the door step who went low after a series of ball fakes to complete his hat trick. Randy Staats then found Austin sneaking open on the back side for his fourth goal of the game to make it 13-3 Haudenosaunee.

Up next for Haudenosaunee is 6-seed Japan in the quarterfinal round at 1 p.m. PST/4 p.m. EST on Wednesday, June 28. The game is a rematch of pool play at The World Games in Birmingham, Ala. Where Japan upset the Haudenosaunee 20-16 in the sixes format. Haudenosaunee carries a much different team at this World Lacrosse Championship tournament. The game can be streamed on ESPN+.

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