SAN DIEGO - Austin Staats had a monster day finishing with eight goals and an assist to lead the Haudenosaunee Nationals to an 18-5 victory over England in their opening game of pool play at the 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championships played at Torero Stadium at the University of San Diego. Lyle Thompson added three goals and one assist, Randy Staats two goals and two assists, Zach Miller two goals and one assist, and Kyle Jackson 4 assists to help lead Haudenosaunee. Jeremy Thompson won 14 of 22 faceoffs and goalie Warren Hill finished with 6 saves to back stop the defense.  

“It felt good. We’ve been practicing, trying to get used to each other and get that chemistry going,” said Austin Staats about his teams opening performance. “We don’t get to practice much. There’s a lot of putting the glue together this week. Just trying to get our systems right and all try to be on the same page at the same time.”

Randy Staats opened the scoring for Haudenosaunee as he buried a feed from Kyle Jackson just over a minute into the game. England responded with two goals of their own to take an early 2-1 lead. The first from Sean Goldsmith (unassisted) who then assisted on a goal from Nick Decaprio. Haudenosaunee responded with another goal from Randy Staats as Lyle Thompson found him wide open on the back side of the net. Thompson then beat his man one-on-one to the front of the net and buried his first goal of the day to regain the 3-2 lead for Haudenosaunee. Austin Staats followed with back-to-back goals to get his career day started. The first from Kyle Jackson as Staats buried one from the doorstep. Then a quick outlet from Warren Hill to Jake Piseno pushed the pace and allowed Ron John to find Staats streaking towards the net to give Haudenosaunee a 5-2 lead. England responded on a snipe from Goldsmith on the right side to cut the lead to 5-3 at the end of the first quarter.

“It's such a joy to watch our men play offense – the stickhandling, the shooting – it’s poetry.” Said head coach Lars Tiffany about the team’s 18 goal performance. “Austin Staats can bury the ball. He can have two maybe even three men draped all over him. That guy can score goals. But, he will tell you first he is finishing everyone else’s work – whether it starts with a save by Warren Hill, a pickup by Zed Williams in transition – there he is finishing up that great work.”

Austin Staats added his third goal of the game as he bulldozed his way to the net to finish one unassisted just over a minute into the second quarter. Zach Miller joined the scoring for Haudenosaunee after Staats kept the ball alive amongst a barrage of defenders near the crease. Jackson then found Miller who sniped one from the right side for his first of two goals on the day. Staats struck again after a beautiful spin move from Miller left his defender on the ground. Miller then passed it to Jackson who threw a behind the back to Staats who buried another to make it 8-3 Haudenosaunee headed to halftime.

Zach Miller scored his second goal of the day unassisted after moving from right to left across the front of the net to get the scoring started in the third quarter. Jakob Patterson then made a great underhand shovel pass to Staats who put home his fifth goal of the game. Kyle Jackson then won a ground ball scramble near midfield and flung another beautiful behind the back pass to Jake Piseno, who buried an unassisted pole goal to extend the Haudenosaunee lead to 11-3. England responded with a goal from Alfred Christian Sca to cut the lead to 11-4 with just over six minutes remaining in the quarter. Lyle Thompson finished another drive to the net despite being slashed to make it 12-4 heading to the fourth quarter.

England in the fourth. However, Haudenosaunee would finish the game on a 6-0 run. Lyle Thompson completed the hat trick as he got free on a spin move and found the back of the net from the left side. Larson Sundown entered the scoring column as he buried one from the slot after another vicious spin cycle from Zach Miller. Brendan Bomberry joined the fun as he was sitting in front of the net on a pass from Austin Staats. Staats then finished the game on a 3-0 run of his own. Two goals in a row the Nationals worked the ball around beautifully before Randy Staats found Austin on the backside. Austin Staats then barreled his way down the left side on a feed from Kason Tarbell to extend the lead to the final margin 18-5.

“Just my teammates finding me and putting the ball in the net when I get my chances,” Austin Staats commented about his 8 goal performance. “It’s a pretty hard tournament to get your scoring chances. It’s pretty crucial. Luck I executed on my chances.”

Haudenosaunee improves to 1-0 in pool play and England drops to 0-2. Next up for Haudenosaunee is a showdown with Team USA on Saturday night at 7 p.m. PST/10 p.m. EST at Torero Stadium. The game is scheduled to stream on ESPN+. Follow @decolonizesports for all of your coverage of the Haudenosaunee Nationals and their journey at the 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championships.