Canada Pulls Away from USA Men, Earns Top Seed

ONEIDA, N.Y. — A six-goal run in the second half broke an 8-8 tie and Canada defeated the United States 14-10 in the final pool play game of the 2024 World Lacrosse Men’s Box Championship before a capacity crowd at the Mary C. Winder Community Center on the Oneida Indian Nation.

• Box Score

The U.S finished as the No. 2 seed and will receive a bye into the quarterfinal round. The U.S. will next play on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Adirondack Bank Center.

The U.S. fell behind 6-3 in the second quarter before battling back to tie the game 6-6 and trailed just 8-7 at the half after Blaze Riorden scored with just 18 seconds left.

Jack Hannah opened the scoring in the second half to tie the game again and the U.S. went on a power play midway through the quarter with a chance to take the lead. Instead, Canada’s Josh Byrne found Shayne Jackson on the backdoor for a short-handed goal for Canada. That ignited a six-goal run for Canada and they went on to secure the tournament’s No. 1 seed.

Riorden, Joe Resetarits and Joey Spallina each had a pair of goals for the U.S. and Mac O’Keefe had two assists. Gowah Abrams started in goal and made 32 saves. Drew Hutchinson came on in the fourth quarter when Canada was on a power play and proceeded to make 10 saves without allowing a goal over the final 10 minutes.

Dhane Smith and Jeff Teat each had four goals for Canada, with Teat adding three assists and Josh Byrne had five assists. Canada goalie Christian Del Bianco made 36 saves.