Israel, the host nation for next summer's 2018 FIL World Championship, has announced its 30-player roster. The roster features 16 native players 13 Jewish diaspora players from the United States and one from Canada.
Highlighting the Israel roster is former Tewaaraton winner Max Seibald, who starred for Cornell from 2006-09. Seibald competed for the U.S. national team in both the 2010 and 2014 World Championships, winning gold and silver medals, respectively.
Seibald, 30, scored 20 goals for the Boston Cannons this summer, but did not try out for the U.S. training team for the 2018 cycle. However, his Jewish heritage made him eligible for Israeli citizenship.
He’s not the only MLL standout to crack the Israel roster. Seibald joins Denver Outlaws midfielder Noah Molnar, the Lehigh product that appeared in 13 games this season for the MLL runners-up.
Also among the Jewish diaspora is Towson midfielder Jean-Luc Chetner, who transferred from Richmond to the defending final four members this offseason. He finished third on the 2016 Richmond team with 27 points.
Other diaspora members of Israel’s roster include Kyle Bergman (Drexel ’12), Ian Kadish (Amherst), Andrew Kruter (Lebanon Valley ’14), Dan Leventhal (Tufts), Josh Offitt (Duke ’12), Zachary Pall (Hofstra ’11), Isaac Paparo (UMass), Eric Schneider (Johns Hopkins ’15), Benjamin Smith (Harvard ’10), Nick Steinfield (Bucknell) and Ari Sussman (Dartmouth ’10).
Also on the Israel roster is Netanya resident Ori Bar David.
Israel will be looking to improve upon its seventh place finish in its first appearance at the 2014 FIL World Championships, which was hosted by US Lacrosse in Denver. The 2018 World Championships will take place from July 12-21 in Netanya.
“The group we have decided to move forward with embodies everything we had asked to see and offers us versatility in a number of areas when building a team aiming for a medal,” General Manager Brad MacArthur said in a press release. “As we enter the winter training season and move forward to July our staff is very excited about the next eight months and the opportunity to work with a great group of elite athletes.”
Here is the full Israeli national team roster:
Position |
Name |
Hometown |
M | Lidor Ashtamkar | Ramle, Israel |
M | Ori Bar David | Netanya, Israel |
M | Kyle Bergman | New York, NY |
D | Eric Cantor | Ashkelon, Israel |
M | Jean-Luc Chetner | Coquitlam, Canada |
F | Mor Cohen | Tel Aviv, Israel |
F | Eric Fischer | Be’er Sheva, Israel |
M | Matthew Flapan | Tel Aviv, Israel |
D | Chris Friedman | Ashkelon, Israel |
F | Ryan Hunter | Herzliya, Israel |
M | Ian Kadish | Salt Lake City, UT |
M | Yochanan Katz | Jerusalem, Israel |
M | Max Kaufman | Ashkelon, Israel |
D | Andrew Kruter | Bellmore, NY |
M | Daniel Leventhal | Chappaqua, NY |
M | Seth Mahler | Ashkelon, Israel |
M | Noah Molnar | Newport Beach, CA |
M | Josh Offit | Bethesda, MD |
F | Zachary Pall | Birmingham, AL |
D | Isaac Paparo | Westport, CT |
D | Matt Popeck | Ashkelon, Israel |
F | Alexander Rabin | Netanya, Israel |
D | Jonathan Rathauser | Tel Aviv, Israel |
G | Eric Schneider | Massapequa, NY |
M | Max Seibald | Hewlett, NY |
M | Jacob Silberlicht | Sderot, Israel |
F | Marc Skolnick | Be’er Sheva, Israel |
D | Benjamin Smith | Longmeadow, MA |
M | Nick Steinfeld | Pacific Palisades, CA |
F | Ari Sussman | New Haven, CT |