Haudenosaunee wins Bronze with 11-6 victory over Australia at 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship

SAN DIEGO – The Haudenosaunee Nationals took home the bronze medal with an 11-6 win over Australia at the 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship at Snapdragon Stadium. Austin Staats finished with another hat trick to lead the offense and finish with a tournament high 30 goals in eight games. Lyle Thompson added a hat trick and an assist, Thomas Hoggarth added two goals, and Randy Staats finished with five assists on the day. Warren Hill backstopped the defense with seven saves between the pipes.

Australia won the initial faceoff but a stop by Haudenosaunee forced an offside penalty to give the Nationals the man advantage. However, they could not capitalize as a shot by Austin Staats was saved by Australia’s Sean Aaron. The Aussies went the other way and Thomas Graham sniped one top shelf from distance to give Australia the 1-0 lead. Another Haudenosaunee faceoff win and man up opportunity went empty but a couple of Warren Hill saves kept Australia at bay. Haudenosaunee struck back as they worked the ball to Lyle Thompson who spun away from the defense leaving them on the ground and finished a bouncer to tie the game 1-1 with just under two minutes remaining in the quarter. Australia won the faceoff and worked the clock until Matt Wood dodged left from behind the net and fired over his shoulder to make it 2-1 with 44 seconds remaining. Haudenosaunee got the dead ball on a faceoff violation and called timeout with 15 seconds left. Lyle Thompson took the dead ball from the center line and found Brendan Bomberry in the heart of the zone who turned and fired top shelf to make it 2-2 heading into the second quarter.

Another Sean Aaron save to start the second quarter sent Australia the other way and Connor McDonough buried one to regain the lead 3-2 two minutes in. Haudenosaunee would respond with a 4-0 run to take control of the game. Randy Staats hit the pipe but Haudenosaunee would regain possession and Randy found Lyle Thompson streaking down the left side and Thompson’s bouncer tied it at 3-3. Kyle Jackson followed as he dodged middle and shoveled a pass to Austin Staats who sniped top corner to give Haudenosaunee their first lead of the game at 4-3 with just under 10 minutes remaining in the first half. An Australia turnover set up Kyle Jackson for his first goal of the day as he dodged right and shot far side to extend the lead to 5-3. Two minutes later Austin Staats pulled the ball out and beat his man one-on-one underneath to score his second goal of the game and give Haudenosaunee the 6-3 lead headed into halftime.

Haudenosaunee kept the pressure on early in the third quarter as Kyle Jackson drew a cross checking penalty in front of the net. With the man advantage Randy Staats found Austin Staats for a step down from the left wing to give him another hat trick and extend the lead to 7-3. An illegal body checking penalty on Austin Staats gave Australia the man advantage and Brayden Panting buried a bouncer to cut the lead to 7-4 with five minutes remaining in the third. A minute later Matt Wood drove left and fired top shelf to pull Australia within two at 7-5. Australia gained another possession and ran the clock down but missed the net as the third quarter expired.

Haudenosaunee responded five minutes into the final frame as Kyle Jackson secured a groundball in the defensive zone and pushed the pace. They worked the ball around to Randy Staats behind the net who found a cutting Lyle Thompson for a bounce shot and his third goal of the game. Another Randy Staats set up, this one a behind the back pass to Thomas Hoggarth on the front doorstep for Hoggarth’s first goal of the game extended the lead to 9-5. Australia bounced back with an unassisted goal from Lachlan Walker to cut the lead. But, Haudenosaunee would hang on as they got another goal from Hoggarth on the doorstep, this one on a no-look feed from Ron John to make it 10-6. Australia had to pressure late and Randy Staats found Zach Miller cutting to the net and Miller buried the empty netter to make the final score 11-6.
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Final Stats Leaders (as listed by World Lacrosse):

Points – A. Staats (38); R. Staats (25); L. Thompson (19)

Goals – A. Staats (30); L. Thompson (13); R. Staats (8); Kyle Jackson (8)   

Assists – R. Staats (17); Austin Staats (8); Lyle Thompson (6)

Ground Balls – J. Thompson (23); Jake Piseno (11)

Saves – W. Hill (46)