Haudenosaunee rally falls just short in showdown with Canada at 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship

The Haudenosaunee Nationals defense huddles during their Pool A game versus Canada at the 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championships.

Photo by David Tiger-Cortes

SAN DIEGO – The Haudenosaunee Nationals rallied in the fourth quarter but fell just short to Team Canada 8-7 in pool play at the 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship at the University of San Diego. Randy Staats had two huge goals in the fourth quarter and added two assists in the game to lead the Haudenosaunee offense. Lyle Thompson and Austin Staats each added two goals to continue their team leading goal totals. Warren Hill finished with six saves in net to back stop another solid performance from the Haudenosaunee defense. Team Canada got goals from seven different players, led by Curtis Dickson who finished with two goals and three assists.

Lyle Thompson scores his first goal of the game vs Team Canada in pool play at the 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship.

Photo by David Tiger-Cortes

“Obviously, a close game. But, we still have a lot to prove.” Lyle Thompson told us after the game. “That was in our opinion a really sloppy game. We couldn’t capitalize on a couple huge ground balls, which are important possessions. And we didn’t capitalize on a couple easy step down shots. Those would be nice to have. We trust our defense though. I think we have shown two nights in a row now, against US, Canada, and even England that our defense is for real. It’s a chess match of a tournament. It’s a full week and half of lacrosse. Just got to take care of our bodies. And we still have a lot to prove.”

Canada got on the board as Dhane Smith found space and buried the first goal of the game. Haudenosaunee responded on an unassisted pole goal from Jake Piseno after Kyle Jackson pushed the ball ahead following a takeaway by the defense. Piseno sprinted the ball into the offensive zone, found himself alone near the top right, and fired a bouncer to tie the game 1-1 with just under 8 minutes to play in the opening quarter. Lyle Thompson added his first goal of the game as he beat his man left and finished a bounce shot. Haudenosaunee missed out on a man up opportunity but held a 2-1 lead at the end of the quarter.   

Jake Piseno shoots and scores to tie the game 1-1 after a defensive stop early in the first quarter.

Photo by David Tiger-Cortes

The second quarter was a back and forth battle as Connor Fields tied the game for Canada two minutes into the second quarter. Fields found space after spinning back towards the middle to finish his lone goal of the game. Haudenosaunee responded as Austin Staats picked up a ground ball scramble and shoveled one to Randy Staats behind the net who found Thompson open on the top left for the top shelf snipe to regain the lead for Haudenosaunee. Canada came back with a goal from Jeff Teat off a Curtis Dickson feed out of the double team. Haudenosaunee had a chance but Zach Miller hit the crossbar and Canada ran the other way. Dickson found Ryan Lee in transition who put the ball away to give Canada the 4-3 lead with under four minutes remaining in the first half.

Haudenosaunee struck first in the third as Randy Staats worked behind the net and found Austin sitting in the slot to tie the game again at 4-4. However, Canada would go on a 4-0 run behind Curtis Dickson to take control of the game in the third quarter. Dickson got his first goal on a bouncer and assist from Jeff Teat. Dickson then dumped one off to Dyson Williams at the top who finished to give Canada the 6-4 lead. Josh Byrne got on the board unassisted off a turnover at midfield to extend the lead to 7-4. Then Dickson dodged on the right side and finished another bouncer for the 8-4 Canada lead. Haudenosaunee did not go away and found themselves a man-up after a Canada holding penalty. The Nationals took advantage after working the ball around until Eli McLaughlin found Austin Staats who buried low from the right side to cut the lead to 8-5. The quarter ended off a steal by Zed Williams with less than five seconds remaining. Williams flung a long pass to a streaking Randy Staats who made an incredible scoop on the run but time ran out before Staats was able to finish the shot that would have cut the lead to two. Instead, Haudenosaunee entered the fourth quarter still trailing 8-5.

Randy Staats celebrates one of his two fourth quarter goals that fueled the late game Haudenosaunee rally.

Photo by David Tiger-Cortes

The Nationals controlled the tempo much of the fourth quarter and Randy Staats struck for his first goal of the game off a stutter step to his right that he sniped top shelf. A pushing penalty on Canada gave Haudensaunee a man up with eight minutes remaining in the game. Haudenosaunee worked the ball around to find Randy Staats alone for a top shelf laser from the left side to bring the Nationals within a goal with just under eight minutes remaining in the game. Haudenosaunee had a few scoring chances they could not finish and Warren Hill made a huge save on Dhane Smith to keep it close. But, Canada stalled much of the end of the game until Haudenosaunee pressure forced a pass out of bounds with :23 seconds remaining on the clock. A quick timeout set up the final possession with Haudenosaunee looking to force overtime. However, Canada forced an illegal procedure and the Nationals never got a shot off and had to settle for their second straight tough loss. The final margin being 8-7.

“I think our ground balls we could of done a better job with. We did a good job of controlling the pace and the tempo offensively. I think there’s some shots that we could have put away,” added Randy Staats about his team’s overall performance. “But, all in all, It was a good team effort…We picked it up in the second half when the game got down to the knitty gritty. Every time we play for the Haudenosaunee Nationals it’s special. And so tonight was no different.”  

With the loss, Haudenosaunee drops to 1-2 in pool play. They face Australia at 4 p.m. PST/7 p.m. EST on Monday at Torero Stadium. The game can be streamed live on ESPN+.   

Team Leaders Through Three Games (as listed on World Lacrosse):

Points – A. Staats (15); R. Staats (10); L. Thompson (10)

Goals – A. Staats (13); L. Thompson (8); R. Staats (4)   

Assists – R. Staats (6); Kyle Jackson (4)

Ground Balls – J. Thompson (14); W. Hill (4)

Saves – W. Hill (18)

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