Poland took a low-scoring affair 7-2 over Australia on Day 2 of the IIJL World Junior Lacrosse Championship on Tuesday in Saskatoon.
It was a match between two inexperienced teams in the box game. Questions remained how would Australia adapt and how would Poland rebound after a tough game against Canada the night before.
Poland rebounded nicely. Especially goaltender William Koza. He had a rough outing against Canada, but stopped 47 of 49 shots for the win. Meanwhile, there were positives they could take away from the game. Their defense played strong, it was the offense that stalled at times.
Poland Takes The Edge in the First
Poland got on the board quickly as Preston Stewart scored on the first shot, 11 seconds into the game.
Orlando Kernaghan was able to tie it up for Australia at 8:52 on the power play.
Aiden Scheurerpflug scored on the power play with 4:41 left followed by Thomas Ratt with 52 seconds left as Polan led 3-1 after the first quarter.
Poland Pulls Away in the Second
Scheuerpflug opened the scoring 1:06 into the second, while Daniel Gutknecht found the back of the net nine seconds later to pull Poland ahead 5-1.
Oscar Page got Australia back on the board with 9:10 left to play in the second to keep the Aussies within striking distance 5-2 at the half.
All Poland in the Second Half
Koza played shutout lacrosse in the second half. He stopped all 23 shots he faced.
Stewart opened the scoring for Poland with 8:06 on the clock in the third quarter and struck again just over four minutes later.
Both Koza and Australian goaltender Connor Magee had shutouts in the fourth quarter. Magee stopped all seven shots he faced in the low-scoring affair.
Top Scorers
Poland
Preston Stewart, 3g
Daniel Gutknecht, 1g 1a
Aiden Scheuerpflug, 2g
Australia
Orlando Kernaghan, 1g 1a
Oscar Page, 1g
Joseph Shobbrook, 1a
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Shawn Slaght has been a sports reporter across the Canadian prairies for over 10 years and has experience covering everything from junior hockey to World Cup skiing to all levels of lacrosse. He is the Saskatchewan correspondent for All Lacrosse All The Time.
