With Pool A taking the day off Monday, it was time for the rest of the WLBC to take center stage.
The two best games of the day were both decided by one goal. In the first game of the day, the Swiss team took home a huge victory over Team Greece by a score of 10-9. Swiss player Lukas Heri scored with 5 seconds remaining to win the game.
The game never got to more than two goals of difference, and the teams were tied at 1-1. 2-2. 4-4. 5-5, 6-6, 7-7, 8-8, and 9-9 before Heri scored the final goal. Heri had 4 goals and 2 assists to pace the Swiss team, while Patrick Brunner had 2 goals and 4 assists.
Demetre Crews led the scoring for Team Greece with 4 goals and an assist. Buffalo Bandits prospect Evan Constantopoulos was strong between the pipes.
It was a different story for Belgium vs Mexico, which was a classic game of runs. Belgium led the game 5-2 at one point, only for Mexico to come all the way back and lead 11-10 with just 5:27 remaining. But Jeroen D’haemer and Kyle Baker scored back to back tallies for the Belgium side, with Baker’s game winner coming with just a minute and 4 seconds remaining.
Baker had 5 goals and 4 assists in the contest to lead Belgium, while Joshua Sánchez had 3 goals and 4 assists to lead Team Mexico. Sanchez played his college lacrosse for Salisbury and was a member of the 2023 National Championship team for the Gulls.
The other Monday scores from the Men’s tournament were the following:
Netherlands 21 – Austria 9
Italy 15 – USVI 9
Slovakia 15 – Puerto Rico 11
Australia 28 – Hungary 8
Japan 18 – Finland 15
Germany 19 – China 11
Czechia 18 – Scotland 5
Jamaica 12 – Chinese Taipei 6
Ireland 17 – Poland 5
Israel 17 – Hong Kong 8
After play on Monday, the round robin is finished for every team outside of Pool A. The playoff scenarios for the tournament can get slightly complicated, but here is the gist. The four pool A teams will have the first four seeds in the playoff, and will receive a bye to the quarterfinals (round of 8).
The next six seeds will come from the winners of each pool, ranked in order of goal differential.
These six teams (not in order), are Israel, Japan, Czechia, Netherlands, Australia, and Ireland. However, only the top four of these teams will get a bye into the next round, which in this case will go to Japan, Czechia, Ireland, and Israel.
Netherlands and Australia will have to win a play-in game Tuesday to advance to the first round of playoffs. Seeds 11-16 of the tournament will be comprised of the second seed from each pool. These two seeds, along with Netherlands and Australia, will play each other Tuesday for the chance to advance on Wednesday. Then on Wednesday, the winners will play against Japan, Czechia, Ireland, and Israel for a birth in the quarterfinals.
Got all that? It can be a little confusing. Check out the tournament format here.
Here are the matchups from LCD’s Teddy Jenner.
On the women’s side, the game of the tournament so far came from the contest between England and Netherlands, which was fun in overtime by the English. Zara Russell scored 12 seconds into the extra period. Check out the goal below!
Meanwhile the Canadians stayed dominant, and Australia is looking like a team to watch as well. For those wondering, the women’s bracket is using a different format, so a potential Canada vs USA game will have to wait for the playoff rounds. Those teams are not scheduled to meet in the round robin.
Make sure to follow LCD’s box coverage!