The USA is heading to the Gold Medal Game at the IIJL World Junior Lacrosse Championship in Saskatoon.
The Americans picked up a 14-7 win over Israel in the semifinals on Friday night. They will now face the winner of the Canada vs. Scotland semifinal for the gold.
The United States defeated Scotland 18-14 in the tournament open while they have yet to face the host Canadian team.
US Jump Out To A Big Lead
The United States opened with a 3-0 lead after the first quarter of play.
TJ Carl opened the scoring only 53 seconds into the game.
Jackson Carawan cutting to the net made it 2-0 with 5:26 left in the quarter. Twenty-six seconds after that Josiah Degrasse made it 3-0 after one quarter.
American goaltender Jackson Curtis stopped all four shots he faced in the first frame.
Israel Gets On The Board
Ryan Colsey opened the second quarter with a power play marker at 12:02. Jason Piechota would then make it 5-0 for the USA shorthanded with 4:37 remaining.
Israel got on the board 23 seconds later on the power play off a marker from Josh Fodchuk. With 2:15 left in the first half, Nate Senez put the Americans back up by five, 6-1.
Erik Tomkins’ goal with 1:35 made it 6-2 at the half.
Americans Hold On To The Lead In The Third
The US opened the third quarter as Piechota scored his second of the game as the Americans took a 7-2 advantage.
Israel found some momentum with a three-goal run. Easton Berns started the run at 13:41 followed by Jaxson Baker on the power play at 9:33. Baker struck again nearly 45 seconds later as Israel pulled closer 7-5.
Carawan stopped the bleeding for the Americans at 8:23. Spencer Vandenberg gave the US a four-goal lead at 6:27, 9-5. The American run continued with two markers from Strub as they led 11-5 heading into the fourth quarter.
USA Punches Ticket To Gold Medal Game
Senez scored his second of the game for the US to open the final frame and put the Americans ahead 12-5.
Israel ended the scoreless streak with Berns picking a corner with just under 9:00 left to play. Baker’s shot through traffic at 5:27 would bring Israel back within five.
Colsey got the US back on the board with 3:08 left in the game with a tricky backhand shot. Marco Firmender rounded out the scoring with 42.3 seconds left to make it 14-7 as the Americans advanced to the Gold Medal Game.
Top Scorers
USA
Ryan Colsey, 2g 2a
Jackson Carawan, 2g 2a
Nate Senez, 2g 2a
Israel
Jaxson Baker, 3g 1a
Erik Tomkins, 1g 2a
Haakon Steen, 3a
Easton Berns, 2g 1a
Don’t forget to check us out every Sunday night at 9pm (ET) on eopsports.com
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.
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