England player pushes against Haudenosaunee player

England started their 2022 World Lacrosse Men’s U21 World Championship campaign with a tough 14-3 defeat against the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

Four goals from the unplayable Anahalihs Doxtator as well as a hat-trick for Gregory Elijah-Brown ensured the Haudenosaunee of the victory at the University of Limerick, Ireland on the opening day of the competition.

Despite going 1-0 down after just 10 seconds when Doxtater latched onto the end of a defence splitting pass and scored on the turn, England started brightly and got themselves an equaliser just after the three-minute mark when Drew Bickerton scored with a diving shot across the crease after some patient build-up play around the opposition goal.

A couple of minutes later, England found themselves in front after some nice back and forth passes between Ollie Allsop and Will Shirt eventually allowed Allsop enough space to take a shot.

And take a shot he did as he fired into the bottom corner from a tight angle to make the score 2-1 to England.

The Haudenosaunee put the after-burners on at this point and were able to score four goals in quick succession before the end of the first quarter; Doxtater grabbing his second, Elijah-Brown with his first, and two from Rowisonkies Barnes.

England were well and truly on the back-foot from this point onwards and the second quarter followed a similar pattern to the first.

Doxtater first completed his hat-trick and then added a fourth two minutes later before David Anderson scored two of his own as the Haudenosaunee looked to well and truly kill the game.

But England rallied late in the quarter with Allsop seeing his shot saved well by Jack VanValkenburgh and Danny Hilditch watching his shot sail well over the goal.

With twenty seconds remaining in the half, however, England did get the goal they’d been pushing for when Hilditch’s determined run through the opposition defence ended with a shot that evaded VanValkenburgh.

And just before the half-time whistle, Sam Rogerson in the England goal made an excellent stop from point blank range to keep the Haudenosaunee out and the score at 9-3 heading into half-time.

Any momentum England had built up towards the back end of the first half was quashed as the Haudenosaunee came back out with intent in the third quarter.

Within five minutes of the restart, England’s opponents had added two more goals to their tally as Elijah-Brown scored his second and Stone Jacobs also got in on the act.

England Head Coach, Ryan Garnsworthy’s half-time instructions were clearly to take more shots at the Haudenosaunee goal and his team didn’t disappoint as Ed Loveland and Will Goodwin both hit the crossbar from close range.

Goodwin and Nathan Wilkinson also saw shots saved by the brick-wall in the opposition goal, VanValkenburgh.

And it was cruel on England when substitute goalie, Jack Allen, got caught in possession 15 yards from goal with no defenders near him, allowing Efrain Barreto Jr. with a free shot on goal that he couldn’t miss.

As the game entered the fourth quarter, England seemed to relax in front of goal and were determined to test the Haudenosaunee goalie before time was up.

Hilditch had a string of shots that either hit VanValkenburgh square in the chest or were wide of the mark and Goodwin saw another one of his shots fly past the post.

But, as always, the Haudenosaunee were there to pounce and Koleton Marquis scored his team’s thirteenth moments after a brilliant save by Allen before Elijah-Brown completed his hat-trick and the scoring for the match with 35 seconds left on the clock.

All eyes now turn to tomorrow as England take on USA at 4pm BST live on BT Sport 2!

England Points: Drew Bickerton (1G), Ollie Allsop (1G), Danny Hilditch (1G).

Thursday 11 August Schedule (times BST)