2024 WJLC Day 1 Recap

The opening game of International Indoor Junior Lacrosse's 2024 World Junior Lacrosse Championship, in Erie, Pennsylvania, was really a tale of two games. 

The Scottish Thistles roared out to a 6-2 lead over Australia through the first quarter Saturday night and had extended that to 11-2 with two minutes left in the second quarter. From there on out, the young Australian squad started to find its legs and made a much closer and more interesting contest the rest of the way. The Thistles still outscored Australia 8-5 to come away with a 19-7 win, but the Aussies felt better about their effort, particularly after having a 3-1 edge in the fourth quarter. 

In the second game of the day, the host and defending gold medalist United States ran out to a 4-0 lead and cruised to an impressive 24-6 win over Poland. 

Day 1 RECAP

SCOTTISH THISTLES 19 - AUSTRALIA 7

Bartos employed a wide variety of stick angles to find the net 6 times for the Thistles, which along with his pair of assists earned him player of the game honours for his side. They also got 4 goals from Stearns plus a hat trick and an assist each from Benoit and Ruskoski. 

Orlando Kernaghan, and 18-year-old from Seaview Downs, South Australia, had 3 goals to lead the Australian effort. The youngster had a breakout game in his final outing of the 2023 tournament in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, when he also scored a hat trick. But Saturday's game took that breakout to a whole other level, especially on the final goal of the game, which was simply spectacular.

UNITED STATES 24 - POLAND 16

The US got over the hump in 2023 to win their first WJLC title thanks to relentless athleticism and growing box lacrosse acumen. They showed in their opener at the 2024 tournament that they are back with much more of the same as they ran roughshod over Poland. 

Tyler Sebastian led the US attack with his dynamic footwork helping produce 3 goals and 6 assists but he got plenty of help from a balanced attack and transition game. Benjamin Pousak had 5 goals and 2 assists, Rafael Katts (4g/2a) and Trey Terlik (3g/3a) added 6 points each and Ian Wick chipped in a hat trick to pace the Americans. 

For Poland, Ryan Voll led the scoring with 2 goals and an assist while Fisher Gadbois excelled with a strong two-way game that included chipping in a pair of assists. 

DAY 2 PREVIEW

Scotland returns to action Sunday at 5:00 pm when they face Canada, who will be making their tournament debut. The United States and Australia play at 8:00 pm. All games in the tournament can be watched live on the WJLC YouTube page. 

The teams will play a full round-robin, with the third- and fourth-place clubs meeting for bronze Thursday, followed by the top two teams in the standings playing for gold.