NETANYA, Israel — The United States completed a perfect run through the Blue Division of 2018 Federation of International Lacrosse Men's World Championship, downing England 19-2 on Tuesday night.
The U.S. is a perfect 5-0 and has received a bye into Thursday's semifinal round. The U.S. will play the winner of Wednesday's quarterfinal between Australia and Israel in the semifinals at 9 p.m. local time, and the game will be broadcast live on ESPNU in the United States (2 p.m. Eastern).
"Words can't describe the amount of fun this is, and how these guys have really bought into the vision we have of building a team," said U.S. team head coach John Danowski. "I already have separation anxiety. On Monday when we get home, I'm going to miss these guys. I'm going to miss the coaches, I'm going to miss the support staff, I'm going to miss the players.
"It's very quick, but incredibly intense. Not a lot of sleep, but it doesn't matter. You wake up every day in a great mood because it's game day and you're with an incredible group of men and women."
England's Joshua Sherry-Brennan scored first in Tuesday's game, and the English defense was strong throughout the first quarter. Henry Dwobeng made four of his 14 saves in the opening quarter.
Ryan Brown struck first for the U.S. to tie the game, and the U.S. took a 2-1 lead midway through the quarter when Kevin Unterstein fed Tom Schreiber for a goal after Unterstein and Will Haus had forced a turnover near midfield.
John Haus scored just before the quarter expired to make it 3-1, and the U.S. offense was off and rolling.
The U.S. opened up a 13-1 lead before Sherry-Brennan scored England's final goal late in the third quarter.
Marcus Holman led the U.S. offense with five goals and Ryan Brown continued his big tournament with a four-goal effort, giving him 20 during the world championship. John Haus added a hat trick, Ned Crotty had two goals and two assists and Matt Danowski led the team with three assists.
The U.S. had its most dominant faceoff performance of the tournament with Trevor Baptiste winning 10-of-12 and Greg Gurenlian winning 9-of-11. John Galloway picked up his fifth straight win and was credited with three saves.
England finished pool play with a 1-4 record to place fifth in the Blue Division. Canada (4-1) finished as the No. 2 seed in the Blue Division and also recieved a bye into the semifinal round. They will play in Thursday's first semifinal against either the Iroquois Nationals, Japan or Puerto Rico.