Marcus Holman dumped the ball into Israel’s net from close range, finishing his hat trick less than two minutes into the second half. His team was calm, offering few congratulations.

The United States beat Israel 15-4 on Sunday, winning the bronze medal at the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships held at the Carrier Dome. This was the fourth-ever WILC tournament and the fourth time the Americans have come away with the bronze.

The Iroquois Nationals and Canadians have dominated the international stage and met in this year’s championship game. The Americans’ losses to the Iroquois (13-9, 17-10) and Canada (18-7) set them up to play in the third-place game, a contest U.S. head coach Tony Resch knew they had to come prepared to.

“We were learning on the job,” Resch said, “The guys never took a backwards step.”

Israel entered the bronze-medal matchup with a 5-2 tournament record, their only losses coming to Germany and Canada. It was seeking its first-ever medal in WILC play.

The U.S. started the scoring early, with a goal from Holman just 54 seconds in. The Americans continued the push, adding four more goals in the quarter, with Holman adding his second goal of the game late in the frame.

U.S. goalie David Mather was flawless otherwise, shutting out the Israeli offense until 4:59 left in the quarter. Kyle Bergman finally found the net, scoring the lone first-quarter goal for Israel on a diving shot that found its way past Mather.

Thrust into the role after starting goalie Jake Henhawk was injured earlier in the tournament, Mather shined for the Americans.

“Being a backup, you always have to be ready to get your chance,” he said.

The second quarter started with a scoring drought on both sides. Israeli goalie Zachary Higgins denied every attempt of the United States for the first 10 minutes, and Mather was equal to the task, leaving no chance for the Israel attackers.

The Americans finally broke through Higgins with 4:33 left in the quarter on a goal from Joe Resetarits, his second of the game. From there, the U.S. opened the floodgates, pumping the score up to 9-2 before the half.

The third quarter lacked scoring on both sides. As the stadium began to fill in anticipation for the gold medal game, the two teams played a game of passing and shooting, but not scoring.

Kevin Buchanan finished his hat trick for the U.S. less than two minutes into the quarter, and added a fourth with 22 seconds remaining in the quarter. Israel found a goal off of a Bryan Hopper shot, but that was all the scoring the sides could muster.

In the fourth, the now-packed Carrier Dome bleachers cheered after every U.S. goal as the Americans pulled away.

Former Syracuse great Casey Powell notched his first goal of the game, and last for the Americans, late in the fourth, adding to his five assists.

“It’s awesome, this building has always been very special,” Powell said, “It was a lot of fun to have this experience.”

With no pushback from the Israeli side, time ran out, and the U.S. took the game 15-4.

During the medal ceremony, Resch and the rest of the team were donned with bronze medals to an ovation of cheers from the Carrier Dome crowd. It was a familiar position for Resch and many on the team, but not an ideal one.

“We’re proud to get a medal,” Resch said, “But we certainly would have liked a different color.”

Published on September 27, 2015 at 5:45 pm

Contact Matt: [email protected]