England player battles with a Canada player

England fought until the very last second in their final 13-1 pool stage defeat to Canada in a rainy Limerick at the 2022 World Lacrosse Men’s U21 World Championship.

In a game disrupted first by warm weather, then by lightning and finally by persistent rain, England succumbed to an extremely well drilled and talented Canada side but left knowing they’d given their all and worked hard to score their one goal in the fourth quarter.

It was always going to be a tough ask to take home a win against Canada, one of the best teams in the world across all age groups, and they started with real determination, scoring after 47 seconds when Owen Hiltz hammered home the first of his five goals.

And, in a first quarter where England struggled to hold the ball for any meaningful length of time, the boys in white found themselves 5-0 down after 10 minutes through two goals from Ross Scott, one from Carter Page, and a second for Hiltz.

England seemed to grow into the quarter and reduced their prolific opponents to just a handful of chances in the remaining five minutes.

After a promising back end to the first quarter, Canada came out of the blocks in the second and scored a sixth when Sam English hit one in 27 seconds after the restart.

At this point, England entered a period of possession in which they were able to create a couple of chances; Will Goodwin had a shot blocked by a Canada defender after some hard work behind the goal allowed him to spin a defender and try his luck before Elliot Bickerton’s effort sailed over the crossbar.

In major tournaments, you simply have to take your chances and England were reminded of this when, despite all their good work, Canada picked up the ball and with their next attack scored through Adam Poitras.

With 20 seconds of the half to go and England sitting at 8-0 down, the officials called for a lightning delay that was then judged to be unnecessary; the remaining seconds of the half were played and the players and coaching teams agreed to a shorter five minute half-time break.

After the stoppage, England showed what they’re really made of, keeping Canada to scoring just one goal in the third quarter while creating several chances, including a Sam Mottershead shot that was saved and an excellent solo effort from Josh Simpson-Pink that the Canada goalie managed to somehow keep out.

But it was in the fourth that England’s hard work and persistence really paid off when Ed Loveland scored after playing a couple of “one twos” with his team mate in the attack and then fired one in from close range much to the delight of the travelling England fans!

This tournament has been anything but plain sailing for England so far but the players’ character, determination, and passion cannot be questioned and they head into their next game on Tuesday with their heads held high and wanting to put on another good show.

England Points: Ed Loveland (1G)

Monday 15 August Schedule (times BST)