Australia 21 - Ireland 5
Australia defeated Ireland 21-5 to earn a spot in Thursday's semi-final against the undefeated American squad.
Nathan Stiglich and Josh Ardossi led the Aussies with three goals each.
Kim Delfs, David Nicholas, Brendan Mundorf, David Pusvacietis and Ryan Garnsworthy each had a pair for Australia, while Robert Stark, David Whiteman, Russell Brown, Wes Green and Mark Mangan added singles. Connor O'Rourke tallied two to lead the Irish, while Brian Murray, Tim Chryssikos and Michael Hartofolis added singles.
Leading 5-2 after the first, Australia played a strong second half and controlled the ball for much of the contest. Aussie defensive stalwart John Tokarua said ball control and discipline were key. "In the second half our superior conditioning led us to victory," he said. Tokarua added the Australians will need to hold onto the ball for at least 75% of the time. "Conditioning won't come into play tomorrow as the Americans are the best players in the world," he said.
Quarter scores: 5-2, 8-3, 9-5, 21-5
Iroquois 14 - Germany 6
The Iroquois Nationals continued their strong play in the quarter-finals defeating a strong German squad 14-6 at TD Waterhouse Stadium.
Less than 24 hours after their biggest victory of the tournament - Tuesday's 12-10 win over the Australians - the Iroquois Nation took to the field Wednesday afternoon against Germany, the Orange Division champions. The Nationals utilized a well-balanced offensive attack to defeat the Germans, with nine Iroquois players registering multi-point games. Delby Powless led the way for the Nationals, scoring four goals in the match, while rookie midfielder Brett Bucktooth contributed one goal and two assists.
"We knew the Germans would be playing a zone defense today, and that our shooters would be getting good looks at the net," said Bucktooth, native of Onondaga, N.Y. "We have a lot of players that know how to shoot the ball and that was pretty obvious out there today. This was a good win for us, but we I don't think that we've played a full 80 minutes yet, so I think our best game is yet to come in this tournament."
Team Iroquois struck first in the match, with Bucktooth setting up Delby Powless for his team leading 13th goal of the tournament 8:45 into the contest. Bucktooth and Powless hooked up to produce another tally 4:45 later, with Bucktooth this time finishing off the play with a low shot that beat German goaltender RJ Degenfelder from 30 feet out.
The German offence came to life near the end of the opening period, as forward Gregory Tily beat Iroquois goalie Joe Solomon with a well-placed shot to pull his team to within one of the Nationals' lead. But it was a short-lived effort as the Iroquois led 7-1 at the half.
Iroquois defenseman Marshall Abrams effectively shut down Germany's top scorer, Josef Kestermann (13G-3A-16P going into today's game), in the opening half, holding the dangerous forward to a single shot on goal in the first 40 minutes of play. "He's a great player and we knew that we had to try and contain his speed out there," said Abrams. "It was a total team effort out there today though - our defense is really starting to gel."
Quarter scores: 3-1, 7-1, 13-3, 14-6
Canada 27 - Finland 2
Canada advanced to the semi-finals of the 2006 ILF Warrior World Lacrosse Championships with a 27-2 shallacking of Finland in front of 1,245 fans at TD Waterhouse Stadium.
Kristian Hermann faced 41 shots in the Finnish net. He said "it was exciting to play against players that I have been watching and idolizing all my life."
"I am really happy for Finland," he said. "We've only had a competitive team for five years. It's great for our program. This is a huge thing to play aginst the best."
Colin Doyle (Waterloo, Ont.), who stars during the summer with the Toronto Rock, scored two goals and added five assists while Jeff Zywicki (Ottawa, Ont.) scored four goals and added two assists. "We did what we had to do," said Zywicki. "I thought our overall performance was solid. We didn\'t know what to expect, we got an early lead but their goalie made a bunch of good stops," he said. "We're happy to be in the semi-finals."
Star Gary Gait (Victoria, B.C.) had three goals and said "it was one of those games. It's good for the growth of the game. For Finland they get a taste of the upper division. The important thing is we are in the semi-finals."
Rookie midfielder Jordan Hall (Surrey, B.C.) and Shawn Willams (Whitby, Ont.) also tallied three goals each. Gavin Prout and Andy Turner had two goals apiece. Ryan Marshall (Toronto), Geoff Snider (Edmonton), Grant Jr. (Peterborough, Ont.), Taylor Wray (Edmonton), Ryan Ward (Victoria, B.C.), Matt Vinc (St. Catharines, Ont.), Jim Moss (Brampton, Ont.) and Chris Seller (New Westminster, B.C.) added singles. Erik Vachon and James Butler scored for Finland.
Quarter scores: 8-1, 11-2, 19-2, 14-6
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