A valiant performance in the bronze medal match saw England finish fourth at the 2024 World Lacrosse Box Championships despite a 14-5 defeat to Haudenosaunee on Saturday.
Corey Small scored two while Ben Buchanan, Tom Roper, and Jack Royer all scored one as England finished fourth for the second consecutive World Championships.
After five games that had yielded one win (13-8 against Czechia), England started the bronze medal match with intent and, despite an early Haudenosaunee goal after 25 seconds, managed to keep their opponents relatively quiet throughout the first quarter, having seven shots on goal in the process.
Two more goals for Haudenosaunee late in the first quarter from Thomas Hoggarth and Larson Sundown saw England go in at the break looking to overturn a three-goal deficit.
And England came out fighting with goals from Buchanan and Small putting their team within one goal of the men in purple.
A world-class defensive performance from England kept Haudenosaunee to just one goal during the whole second quarter through Travis Longboat, seeing the score at 4-2 going into half-time.
So many games of box lacrosse are won and lost in the third quarter and this 15 period proved tricky for an England side with a never-say-die attitude.
Lyle Thompson and Tehoka Nanticoke showed their quality to put Haudenosaunee 6-2 up after 34 minutes before Small added his second of the game to pull England within three.
Four more goals for Haudenosaunee before the third quarter break courtesy of Hoggarth, Randy Staats, Sundown, and Nanticoke saw the opposition take a seven goal lead into the final 15 minutes.
England weren’t done yet, however, and Royer hit a fourth for his team 50 seconds after the restart to give England some hope of chasing down their opponents.
Haudenosaunee, who had never finished lower than second in this competition, finished with a flourish, scoring four through Longboat, Thompson (2), and Trey Deere to effectively seal the victory for their side.
England did have the last laugh though as Roper scored a fifth with just over three minutes to go but it wasn’t to be on the day and England had to settle for fourth.
England 5-14 Haudenosaunee (0-3, 2-1, 1-6, 2-4)
England scorers: Corey Small (2G, 1A), Jack Royer (1G, 1A), Ben Buchanan (1G), Tom Roper (1G), Lyndon Bunio (1A), Elliot Leonard (1A), Cam MacLeod (1A), Matt Marsh (1A)