LAX Herald Sunday - July 7, 2002
The official publication of the 2002 World Lacrosse Championship
Iroquois tradition kicks off games
By Nicole Atkins
IROQUOIS spiritual leaders took
to the field for the first World
Lacrosse Championship game to
perform the traditional tobacco
burning ceremony.
As players from the Iroquois
Nations, England and Canada
huddled around a pile of burning
hickory, Mohawk medicine man
Eddie Gray threw sacred tobacco
onto the mound and prayed in his
native tongue.
Mr Gray prayed for good
weather during the championships
and guidance and protection from
injury for all players.
"Lacrosse can be a violent
game, and there could be severe
injury, so I asked the creator to
watch over everyone," he said.
The tobacco ceremony also signifies
the Iroquois origins of the
game, which can be traced back to
the 1600s.
The ceremony takes place prior
to every traditional Iroquois meeting
and according to Mr Gray
helps to focus the players prior to
the game.
"It reminds you of everything
on earth and makes you appreciate
it," he said.
Youthful Americans silence critics
By Rhonda Plenty
THE USA continued its dominance of international
lacrosse with a 22-6 victory over
the Iroquois Nationals last night.
A youthful USA began its onslaught following
a 12 minute goal drought by Scott
Doyle, which was quickly followed by four
unanswered goals.
Iroquois stood up to the pressure both at
goals and over the field but lacked consistency
and dominant players.
Iroquois official Oren Lyons said the
unusual officialling made his players 'jittery'.
"If you add up the high number of penalties
it meant they (Iroquois) played a man
down through three quarters of the match,"
Lyons said.
USA consistently beat the Iroquois out of
the centre and continued the pressure with a
strong midfield and good forwards.
The Iroquois came into their own in the
second half with the help of the inspirational
goalie Chris Hopps.
Hopps' agility and speed deflected multiple
tries and raised the team's overall confidence
after 16 minutes of fouls at half time.
But the American players did not come
out unscathed with many being checked
heavily by the traditional wooden sticks
used only by the Iroquois.
With the Iroquois going up against
England today Mr Lyons said he was looking
forward to an interesting match.
USA will play Australia today at 4pm.
Park Buzz
IT WAS only the first day of the
tournament, however the word
quickly spreading around the
UWA Sports Complex was of the
Korean team's impressive display
against New Zealand yesterday
afternoon that had one top ILF
official labelling the team as
'amazing'.
AN enterprising young reporter
was on the look out for souvenirs
and managed to get hold of the
match ball from the Japan and
Sweden match.
In order to increase its value on
the lucrative sports memorabilia
market, the journo asked the
Japanese coach to sign the ball.
The coach granted the request
but put the ball in his pocket and
walked away.
If the coach is among the
masses of people reading this
publication could we please have
our ball back?
A MESSAGE for our Welsh
friends from loyal supporter
Jennifer Steel via e-mail.
"I would like to send a 'good
luck' message to some friends and
I was wondering if there was any
way that I could contact individual
teams that are playing in the
championships? They are
members of the Men's Wales
Lacrosse team. If you could help
me out it would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you."
Sweet success for Team Ireland
By Nicole Atkins
IRELAND marked their first international
lacrosse match in 70 years
with a 16-1 win over Hong Kong.
Hong Kong's poor communication
and ball handling skills
enabled Ireland to gain easy
possession of the ball to score ten
goals in the first half.
The highlight of Hong Kong's
game came when the youngest
man on the field, 17-year-old
Christopher Kwok Keung Li used
some fancy footwork to score the
team's first goal.
Peter Soden was consistent in
Ireland's attack on goal, as were
Kevin Dowd, Brian McGettigan
and Dan Daley.
At the start of the second half,
with the scoreboard 10-1 in
Ireland's favour, the ball stayed
primarily in their half.
Within a matter of seconds the
first goal of the half had been
scored by Ireland's Kevin Dowd.
Hong Kong shaped up later in
the second half, with better
communication and a focus on
defence rather than attack.
Hong Kong effectively defended
their goal, while the Irish attackers
passed the ball around, looking for
an opportunity to score.
Clever footwork from Hong
Kong's Wing Kei Lau almost
landed the team their second goal.
Ireland's coach, Richie Moran,
said he was pleased with the result.
Moran said the players were
proud to be representing their
nation in such an historic event.
Hong Kong midfielder Ho Yin
Lai said their team was hoping to
gain valuable experience from the
competition.
The Hong Kong team has been
together for one and a half years.
Canada survives opening match scare
By Jessica Vanderende
CHAMPIONSHIP favourites Canada survived
a scare last night overcoming a goalless
first quarter to beat England 13-9.
Canadian head coach Frank Nielsen
played down the win and said he was dissapointed
the match was so tight and the team
started so slowly.
Nielsen said they needed to focus on
what their jobs were.
"[Canadian players are] supposed to be
great sticks but they threw the ball away,"
he said.
England began the match in impressive
style with two goals in the first minute, the
first fittingly scored by co-captain Daren
Baythorpe.
When Canada's defence became more
desperate and physical, England responded
with its own show of force resulting in the
match's first personal foul and allowing
them to reach quarter time three goals up.
Canada quickly made their presence
known in the second quarter with Chris Gill
getting his team's first goal on the board.
But the half-time score of 5-5 did not
reflect England's domination of the first half.
While Canada's stick checks were physical
and often brutal, on occasion resulting
in illegal body check fouls, England's
defence was effective usually coming away
with the ball.
England's head coach Dave Elwood
agreed his team's first half was better than
he could have hoped.
"We played the game well without a
shadow of doubt, I think [Canada] only had
possession for about one minute," he said.
In the second half these roles were
reversed and although England still regularly
held possession, Canada made the most
of their opportunities.
Elwood lamented the number of
turnovers in the second half and said they
were England's main problem.
"Our feet stopped moving ... turnovers
increased," he said.
Canada moved faster into attack and easily
cleared a path to the goals while England
had to work harder for their only goal in the
third quarter.
The final quarter became a battle of wills
as tired players became more desperate and
checks became more brutal.
Both coaches confirmed there were no
injuries and they would have full strength
teams for their next matches.
"There was a lot of bruising but nothing
that will keep them off the field," said
Elwood.
Championship reversal for Scots
By Vanessa Frzop
SCOTLAND reversed the result of
May's British Lacrosse Championship
final by beating Wales 14-7.
Kyle Arbuckle scored Scotland's
first goal in the opening quarter of
the game, taking Welsh goalie John
Hudson by surprise.
The Welsh supporters rallied and
livened up the atmosphere with
cheers of encouragement, but within
ten minutes Scotland's Gerry
Donaghy darted through and scored
his team's second goal. Scotland
regrouped and put forward all their
energy into blocking Wales's attempt
at scoring a goal.
They were successful until the last
two minutes when Max Agee, a fast
running Welsh midfielder, managed
to break through the defence and
score a goal.
The Welsh team came back onto
the field with renewed vigor scoring
an additional two goals spurring on
Scotland to retaliate with three goals.
Wales's dominant players were
Max Agee and Jonathan Newall, two
fast midfielders who scored four of
Wales seven goals.
Scotland's Merv Davies clinched
the game by scoring two goals in the
last quarter, increasing Scotland's
lead to seven.
Wales still has a chance to redeem
themselves when it faces off against
Sweden today.
Japan fulfils prediction
By Daniel Emerson
PRE-TOURNAMENT predictions that
Japan would be the team to watch in Red
Division were validated at the main stadium
yesterday, as Sweden went down 19-4
against the speedy Asian team.
A pumped-up Sweden burst out of the
blocks to take a 2-0 lead and maintained
possession early on in the first quarter, but
simply could not contain Team Japan, who
recovered after missing some early chances
to finish the quarter leading 4-3.
Japan soon found their rhythm, restricting
Sweden to a solitary goal for the rest of
the match which came in the final term.
Japan piled on eight goals in the second
term to set up the comprehensive win, with
top scorer Shinya Maruyama scoring five of
his six goals during the period.
A scoreboard malfunction left many
spectators in the dark as to the exact score,
but one Swedish supporter remarked midway
through the the third quarter that he
didn't want to know anyway.
Japan delighted their chanting fans with a
swift, skillful display highlighted by blistering
counter-attacks and disciplined defence.
After being restricted to two goals in the
third quarter, Japan ran away with the
match with five goals in the final term.
The Asians shared the scoring between
nine different goalscorers. Spurred on by
the crowd, Goalie Hidekazu Yoshida almost
got into the act as well, running the length
of the field on two occasions before being
thwarted by the Swedish defence.
Swedish co-coach Chuck Wohltmann
said his team was hurt by the speed of the
Japanese, but maintained his team had a
number of positives to build on.
"[The Japanese] were great. We didn't
play our own game well enough," he said.
"We had a pretty good first quarter and
then fell apart a lot in the second quarter. I
think it was a little difficult for us to come
back after that.
"We realise the mistakes that we made
today, and I think it was good playing Japan
first and the speed they have... we learned
a lot today."
Team Japan head coach Makoto Sato said
his defence did a good job after being tested
early on in the match.
Japan will surely push for future inclusion
in the Blue Division if they can replicate
yesterday's performance throughout the
rest of the tournament.
Germans begin with a win
GERMANY has defeated the Czech
Republic 11-7 after starting out strong,
with their defenders keeping the Czechs
at bay early in the game.
Christopher McAulay was effective in
attack, scoring most of Germany's goals
in the first half.
The Czechs put up a solid front with
their exceptional ball skills, and former
Olympic sprinter Martin Mrlik in midfield.
Germany lost concentration in the second
half, creating opportunies for the
Czechs to score more goals.
German team manager, Tim Gruenke,
said the teams were familiar with one
another, as they compete often at home.
Fast Koreans stun NZ
By Jessica Vanderende
KOREA proved be the big surpise of Green
Division, shocking New Zealand with their
speed and impressive skills in a 23-2 win.
"It's a great win, very exciting for the
players," Korea's head coach John Haus
said. "This is their first opportunity at the
World Championships and will go down as
a first ever championship win for Korea."
Korea stunned New Zealand's goalkeeper
with an astonishing 15 unanswered goals in
the first half.
"We had talented attackmen, good stick
skills, won the face-offs and had the best
defence since we've been playing together,"
Haus said.
Cortland Kyoung-Jin Kim was the highest
scorer with five goals, including three in
the first half.
New Zealand player/coach Mark
Freemon admitted his role was difficult.
"As a player you're meant to focus on your
own game but as a coach you're meant to
focus on the whole game," he said.
Despite the final scoreline Freemon
refused to be disapointed and credited his
players' effort up against Korea's excellent
skills. Freemon said NZ reacted to Korea
and had not played their own game.
"We're short on experience but long on
enthusiasm ... for them to get better they
need to play at this level ... it's a learning
curve for them," he said.
Both coaches said their teams were looking
forward to their next games and enjoying
their time at the championships.
Haus said he was unfamiliar with most of
the teams in Green Division but their next
game was against Ireland who he credited
as the best team in the division.
After Korea's impressive results yesterday,
Ireland's position as favourite may be
disputed.
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