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LAX Herald Tuesday - July 9, 2002
The official publication of the 2002 World Lacrosse Championship
Australia coasts to first victory
By Ben Spencer
AUSTRALIAN star Peter Inge scored the
fastest goal of the World Championship so
far as Australia easily accounted for an
error-riddled England 19-8 last night.
Inge's brilliant goal after seven seconds
set the tone for a dominant Australian performance,
with the home side rarely troubled.
The first quarter, marred by a high
turnover count from both sides, saw neither
team able to control play for extended periods.
Australian goalie Warren Brown continually
halted England's forwards in the first
quarter with several reflex saves, but weight
of numbers saw Daniel Green and Paul
Flowers find the back of the net.
England's early 2-1 lead was quickly
eradicated as Russell Brown and Jamie
Buchanan rifled goals
past England goalie
Richard Smith.
After going to the
first break with a
handy 4-2 advantage,
Australia's midfield
set about running the
English ragged,
largely a result of the
brilliance of face-off
specialists Inge and
Matt Schomburg.
England's second
quarter woes continued
from their match
against the Iroquois, with Australia piling
on six goals to two.
With England midfielder Steve Talbot
sent off for tripping just before half-time
and allowing Australia an extra man on the
field, the home side were able to score three
unanswered goals, the last coming from
Brad Ross with just four seconds left.
Australia carried that momentum into the
third quarter with Russell Brown scoring
one of his six goals 40 seconds in, again a
result of a Buchanan assist.
England's players threatened to lose the
plot as midfielder Tom Caplin received a
30-second penalty for throwing the ball at
an Australian opponent and then another
one minute penalty for kicking a chair on
the sidelines.
But goalie Richard Smith kept his side in
the game with saves belying the application
of his defenders.
Flowers gave the small pocket of English
supporters some hope when he cut through
the Australian defence to score one of his
four goals from close range to reduce the
gap to six.
But Australia's dominance of the faceoffs
saw another goal added by Nathan
Roost only seconds later to snuff out any
English resistance.
England will welcome today's bye before
they play the US tomorrow.
Japan maintains perfect record
By Tessa Heal
JAPAN secured a 16-5 win over the Czech
Republic yesterday, stamping itself as the
team to beat in Red Division.
Yoshiro Suzamra and Masayuki Kadota
were best afield for the Japanese side, who
maintained its perfect record at the World
Championship. Suzamra scored a goal in
every quarter while Kadota ran rampant
around a slow Czech side.
In a game marred by poor Czech skills,
Japan dominated every quarter and go into
today's game against Scotland as red-hot
favourites. Japan started strongly with
Shinya Maruyama and Suzamra scoring
before the Czech team rallied with two goals.
But the pressure of Japan was too much
for the Czech side and three late goals set
up a 5-2 lead at quarter-time.
Mistakes proved costly for the Czech
team in the second quarter with Czech goalkeeper
John Hetzel, who was starting to
show signs of a heavy workload so far in
the tournament, letting in four unanswered
Japanese goals.
Japan went into half-time with a comfortable
9-2 lead and looked set to blow the
game wide open, but the Czech team would
not lie down. They peppered the goals early
in the third quarter but could not find the
back of the net.
Japan piled on five inspiring goals to win
the game 16-5 and bring the band of loyal
Japanese supporters to their feet.
An invincible Japan has now knocked off
Sweden, Germany and the Czech Republic.
Irish too good for NZ
Story and photo by Sarah Roberts
THE IRISH team continued their
dominance of Green Division
with a solid 19-3 win over New
Zealand yesterday.
Strong crowd support and a
large New Zealand flag could not
compete with Ireland's clean
passes, effective movement and
communication.
Midfielder Dan Daley and
attacker Pat McKee led the Irish
charge, netting 10 goals between
them.
The team celebrated with an
enthusiastic rendition of the Irish
national anthem.
Players form the team with
Irish backgrounds from America,
Canada, Australia, South Africa
and England.
They will tour Ireland next year
to play exhibition matches and
promote the sport.
"The [team's] emphasis is solely
on development," Irish coach
Richie Moran said. "The World
Championship provides great visibility
and the players are exposed
to world-class competition."
He credited team manager
Maryellen Garvey as the team's
"foundation", with the players as
the "bricks".
Ms Garvey's son Joe, the
team's goalie, inspired her to form
an Irish side for the 2001
European Championship. The
team had no coach and lost every
match.
Ms Garvey said their World
Championship success under Mr
Moran's coaching was very
rewarding.
She received 500 applications
for the team and used fundraising
and sponsorship to help them
reach Perth.
"The team has been my baby,"
she said.
"It's been a long road but I feel
like I've finally 'given birth'."
Most of the players met and
trained in Brisbane but the full
team only came together on July 4.
Ms Garvey hopes the Irish team
will soon rise to the Red Division.
"Hopefully in 10 years we'll be
in the Blue Division competing
with USA and Canada," she said.
Ireland plays Hong Kong for
the second time at 10am today.
New Zealand will be hoping to
repeat their win over Hong Kong
on Wednesday.
Park Buzz
DURING yesterday's match
between Korea and Hong Kong a
Green Division runner ensured
one of our journalists was comfortable
by bringing her a chair
from the other side of the ground
and offering an umbrella. Many
thanks.
WHAT's this with the Canadian
player asking for the music to be
changed during match warm-up
last night? Good to see Canadians
hate Bryan Adams as much as we
do here in the bunker.
ANYONE wondering what is
keeping Scotland equal with
Japan on top of Red Division?
One suspects it could be the small
vials of what seems to be whiskey
passed out to players after the
match. "Medicinal purposes"
quoted one Scottish team official.
Park Buzz fully supports the
concept of mixing business with
pleasure as long as Scotland
doesn't take a leaf out of William
Wallace's book and moons the
opposition.
Dickson heroics save Germany
Story by Jason Dattilo
GERMANY rebounded from its six-goal
loss to Japan to record a second victory in
Red Division with an 11-8 defeat of Wales
yesterday.
The match was highlighted by the brilliance
of German goalkeeper Beret Dickson
and Welsh goalkeeper John Hudson, both
thwarting numerous scoring opportunities
from opposition attacks throughout the match.
Dickson proved to be the difference
between the sides with his quick reflexes in
front of goals preventing the Welsh side
from closing the gap in the final minutes of
the game.
The Germans started the match strongly,
with Christopher MacAulay converting just
three minutes in, courtesy of a strong drive
from Gregory Wojtech.
Despite a Welsh reply seven minutes
later, Germany found themselves ahead
again after some crisp passing resulted in a
Florian Kriependorf goal.
However, redemption was only one
minute away for the Welsh as they levelled
scores again thanks to Craig Caputo.
Wales started the second quarter in exciting
fashion, scoring a goal in the first
minute which was quickly followed by a
superb long goal from Eric Jones.
But the Germans hung on and replied
with three goals of their own to go into half
time on level terms with the Welsh at 5-5.
The third quarter was the turning point of
the match with Germany scoring three goals
to one, two coming from the tireless efforts
of MacAulay who finished with six goals, his
last coming just four seconds from full-time.
Gavin Chamberlain top scored for Wales
with four goals.
Wales paid a heavy price for a lop-sided
13-4 foul count, being forced to play a man
down on several occasions.
Despite the loss Wales coach Ray Nash
said he was pleased with his team's effort
and endeavour.
He said Wales had their chances.
"Germany are one of the best teams and
we created plenty of chances," Nash said.
"We need to work on our finishing but
overall there were lots and lots of positives."
Korea regain form with massive win
By Jessica Vanderende
KOREA bounced back from Sunday's
defeat to the Irish to convincingly beat
Hong Kong 19-3 yesterday.
The first thirty seconds of the match were
an indication of what was to come, with
Korea winning the face-off and quickly
finding the back of the net through the stick
of Cortland Kyoung-Jin Kim.
Korea made the most of Hong Kong's
poor passing skills and high turnover rate
and would have held a more substantial lead
at quarter time if it weren't for Hong Kong
goalkeeper Kwan Pak Yip's athletic saves.
Hong Kong opened their scoring in the
second quarter with a shot from
player/coach Greg Pilarowski but had problems
forming attack on the few occasions
they gained possession.
By the second half Hong Kong's defence
was tighter and Korea did not have a clear
path to goals. However, Korean domination
in the face-offs meant their attacking style
of play continued.
Korea's head coach John Haus said
face-offs had been a major problem during
their loss to Ireland and they had worked on
improving that aspect of their game.
"It was a great job," he said.
"We had a late game yesterday and after
that loss we had to come back with enthusiasm
this morning."
Korea's Kyoung-Jin Kim and Sung-uk
Hwang starred with seven goals and six goals
respectively and Haus applauded their efforts.
"They've done a nice job for us," he said.
"[Kyoung-Jin Kim] has a lot of experience
and [Hwang] has played in the States,
so their experience is really valuable to us."
In the final quarter Korea took advantage
of a tired Hong Kong defence, winning
many physical clashes against larger players.
They added a further eight goals to the tally
to crush the spirit of Hong Kong.
But Hong Kong refused to show their disappointment
after the match and both teams
showed great camaraderie as they posed for
photographs together.
Sharp Canadians crush Iroquois
By Rhonda Plenty
CANADA steamrolled a shell-shocked
Iroquois Nationals with a stunning 20-8 win.
A brilliant hip shot from Canadian star
Paul Gait two minutes in set the tone for the
game with attacker John Grant Jr. bringing
up the rear with five assists.
Consistent centre feeds from Canadian
midfielder Gavin Prout kept the team
focused after confusing referee calls kept
the game going after the first quarter time
had been called.
The Iroquois lost momentum and the
game began to take on the tell-tale chain of
events seen in their previous two contests.
Iroquois goalie Chris Hopps was in fine
form to deflect the onslaught of balls from
Canada but also lost form in the final half.
Canadian head coach Frank Nielsen said
sharp defence and a stabilised offense kept
them one step ahead of the game and will
be part of the strategy against their arch
rivals USA tomorrow.
"The USA game will tell us how much
we've learnt, it's their game," Nielsen said.
Assistant coach Bill Bjorness will be
lamenting some of the referee calls made as
he jeered and heckled throughout the game
with one Iroquois player demanding the ball
after a questionable technical foul.
Mr Bjorness sai the Iroquois will have to
pull out all the stops to go against the odds
and beat Australia tomorrow.
Scottish make it three in a row
By Ben Anderson
SCOTLAND made it three wins in a row
yesterday with a 10-5 win over Sweden.
Three quick goals to the Swedes at the start
of the match gave their fans reason to cheer.
Scotland regrouped and kept the ball in
their half for the rest of the quarter but were
unable to capitalise, scoring only one goal.
Two spectacular saves by Scottish goalie
Ethan Harris kept Sweden's lead to just two at
quarter time.
Donaghy scored his second to level the
scores at three all, but a goal from Jeremy
Hobbs saw Scotland grab the lead as half
time approached.
Scotland's defence was the difference
between the two teams, keeping Sweden
goalless in the second quarter.
John Sagrelius goaled for Sweden in the
first minute of the second half, again levelling
the scores.
The rest of the quarter belonged to
Scotland who scored four goals, including a
long range shot from Zac Aitken.
Doucette scored Sweden's fifth goal half
way through the last quarter, but it was not
enough to trouble Scotland.
Scotland coach Phil Collier said he was
happy with his team's performance despite a
tight first quarter.
"We moved the ball better and our goalie
had a good game," Collier said.
Scotland now faces difficult matches
against the two Red Division favourites
Germany and Japan.
"Japan will be the toughest game,"
Collier said. "I think they will give the fifth
placed team a run for their money."
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