DENVER, CO — The United States and Canada will once again go for gold with the 2014 FIL World Lacrosse Championships title game on Saturday at 9pm ET live on ESPNU. With over 20 NLL players in action, the teams punched their tickets on Thursday in the World Lax semifinals as Team USA defeated Australia 22-3 while Canada advanced past the Iroquois Nationals with a 12-6 win.

In the first semifinal game, the U.S. improved to a perfect 6-0 in the tournament with the win and controlled play from the start. The U.S. scored the first seven goals of the game and limited Australia to just 11 shots in the contest.

David Lawson had a team-high six points on four goals and two assists and Brendan Mundorf, Paul Rabil, Max Seibald and Kevin Leveille each scored three goals. Once again, the U.S. dominated possession time by controlling the faceoff battle. Chris Eck won 13-of-14 and Greg Gurenlian won 13-of-15 for the United States. Matt Diver, Nigel Morton and Anson Carter all scored for Australia who had a strong showing in the tournament and previously almost took the Iroquois to the brink in the quarterfinal.

In the second World Lax semifinal featuring over 20 NLL players, Canada fell behind the Iroquois Nationals 4-1 after one quarter, but then clamped down defensively and went on to win 12-6 to advance.

The Iroquois went scoreless for a stretch of over 46 minutes from the 2:05 mark of the first quarter until the 15:23 mark of the fourth quarter. During that time, Canada went on a eight-goal run to take a 9-4 lead.

Curtis Dickson scored three of those goals to break the game open with a natural hat trick and finished with a game-high four goals. Geoff Snider, one of the stars when Canada upset the U.S. for gold in 2006, was also a key contributor by winning 16-of-21 faceoffs.

All 12 goals scored by Canada came off the sticks of National Lacrosse League players including tallies from Dickson (4), Snider, Mark Matthews, Zack Greer, Kevin Crowley, Jordan MacIntosh, Jordan Hall, Cam Flint and Jordan Hall. NLL Rookie of the Year finalist Dillon Ward made eight saves in net for Canada.

Lyle Thompson led the Iroquois with two goals and an assist, but all came in the first quarter. Canada’s Dillon Roy drew the assignment on Thompson most of the night and was able to keep him in check. Randy Staats also had two goals for the Nationals.

Taking place just once every four years, the title game marks the fifth-straight time the two rival nations have met in the final. This year’s tournament featured a record 38 teams at the 10-day event in Commerce City, Colorado.

Australia will play the Iroquois in the third place game on Saturday at 2 p.m. in a game that will be show on ESPN3.

NLL players on Team Canada
Kyle Rubisch (Edmonton Rush)
Jesse Gamble (Toronto Rock)
Brodie Merrill (Philadelphia Wings)
Cam Flint (Minnesota Swarm)
Cameron Holding (Colorado Mammoth)
Kevin Crowley (Philadelphia Wings)
Adam Jones (Colorado Mammoth)
Jordan MacIntosh (Minnesota Swarm)
Geoff Snider (Calgary Roughnecks)
Dillon Ward (Colorado Mammoth)
Mark Matthews (Edmonton Rush)
Jordan Hall (Philadelphia Wings)
Jason Noble (Minnesota Swarm)
Matt Vinc (Rochester Knighthawks)
Curtis Dickson (Calgary Roughnecks)
Zack Greer (Edmonton Rush)

NLL players on Iroquois Nationals
Cody Jamieson (Rochester Knighthawks)
Sid Smith (Rochester Knighthawks)
Brett Bucktooth (Vancouver Stealth)
Jeremy Thompson (Edmonton Rush)
Jeff Shattler (Calgary Roughnecks)
Craig Point (Rochester Knighthawks)

NLL players on Team USA
Mitch Belisle (Minnesota Swarm)
Garrett Thul (Philadelphia Wings)

Story courtesy of worldlacrosse2014.com

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