U.S. advances to U-19 championship game
The United States continues to roll through the Federation of International Lacrosse Under-19 Women's World Championships, running up a 9-0 lead to fuel a 19-5 semifinal victory over England in Hanover, Germany on Friday.
The three-time defending champion U.S. is 7-0 at the tournament and will meet Australia, a 14-10 winner over Canada in the other semifinal, for the championship Saturday at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time. The United States and Australia have met in every championship game in the history of the Under-19 championships. The U.S. won the last three titles after falling to Australia in the inaugural U-19 championship in Haverford, Pa. in 1995.
U.S. coach Krystin Porcella noted the play of attacker Erin McMunn (Winters Mill), midfielder Dani Lazo (St. Mary's) and defender Caleigh Sindall (Good Counsel) in the semifinal win. McMunn had two goals and three assists as well as three draw controls, two caused turnovers and two ground balls. Lazo had two goals, two draw controls, two ground balls and a caused turnover. Sindall had six caused turnovers, one ground ball and one draw control.
"England is fast and athletic and their players have strong moves to goal," Porcella said via email. "We were able to win 20 of the 26 draw controls. Our defenders, Sindall and Alyssa Blevins (C. Milton Wright), played solid one-v-one. McMunn ran a calculated attack that used up a good amount of time per possession, since England has a very good fast break and that is how they score most of their goals."
Jen Cook (McDonogh) had one goal and Covie Stanwick (Notre Dame Prep) contributed one assist as 12 Americans had at least one point. Cortney Fortunato, from New York, matched McMunn's five points with five goals while starting goalie Kelsey Duryea, from Massachusetts, was named Player of the Game.
McMunn (13 goals, 11 assists), Cook (10 goals, 6 assists) and Stanwick (5 goals, 11 assists) rank among the top five in American scoring leaders while Fortunato leads the team with 22 goals and 8 assists.
The U.S. has outscored its opponents in this tournament by an average of 11.9 points. It has given up no more than seven goals in a game -- to Australia -- and the smallest margin of victory has been seven goals -- vs. Canada.
While Australia scored the most goals on the U.S. in this tournament in the 20-7 U.S. victory, Canada came much closer to the U.S., falling 13-6. Canada, whose team includes McDonogh senior Sofia Robins, is 4-3 and will play England in the bronze medal game Saturday. Australia is 6-1 with its only loss to the U.S. in pool play.
Note: Lacrosse Magazine's Clare Lochary reports that Japan's 21-18 loss to Scotland in the consolation bracket will drop Japan to Pool B for the 2015 U-19 championships. The winner of the sixth-place game between Scotland and Wales will move up to Pool A.
