Sport Lacrosse Number of teams 12 | Duration July 3–12 | |
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League International Lacrosse Federation | ||
The 2008 International Lacrosse Federation Under–19 World Lacrosse Championships (U–19's) was held at Percy Perry Stadium in Coquitlam, British Columbia from July 3 to July 12. The event was sponsored by the International Lacrosse Federation. This lacrosse tournament is held about every four years, and teams are composed of players that are under the age of nineteen.
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This was the last major event to be sponsored by the ILF. In August 2008, the ILF merged with the former governing body for international women's lacrosse, the International Federation of Women's Lacrosse Associations, to form the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL). Future Under–19 championships will be sponsored by FIL.
The United States won the gold medal, the silver medal winners were Canada and the bronze medal went to the Iroquois Nationals.
Teams
The 2008 tournament saw twelve nations competing in the championship. Teams were split into two division: the elite "Blue Division" and the "Red Division" consisting of nations where lacrosse is still developing. The tournament consisted of round robin play within a team's division, where each team played every team in its division once. Round robin play established seedings for the following series of single elimination play-in games to compete in the "placing" or semi-final round.
The Blue Division was composed of the following six elite teams: the United States had won each of the International Lacrosse Federation's Under-19 World Lacrosse Championship tournaments since its inception in 1988, Canada led by head coach Gary Gait, Iroquois Nationals, this Native American team is only sanctioned to compete in lacrosse internationally, the up-and-coming England team, Australia, who won the bronze medal in 2003, and Japan, who moved up to the Blue Division after going undefeated in the Red Division in 2003.
The Red Division included three nations making their first appearance in an Under–19 World Lacrosse Championship tournament. Bermuda, Finland, and Scotland are making their first appearance in the tournament. The nations of Wales and South Korea are making their second appearances in the Under-19 World Lacrosse Championship. Germany is also participating, but was granted a waiver by the ILF to field a team consisting of Under-21 year olds.
Round Robin results
WPct. = Winning Percentage, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, P.I.M. = Penalty Minutes, PPG= Points per Game
The round robin portion of the tournament determined seeding for the semi-finals and the placing games. The top two teams in the Red Division are awarded automatic semi-final berths, while the third and fourth seeded teams from the Red Division meet up with the first and second seeded teams from the Blue Division, respectively, in a semi-final "play-in game.
The round robin portion of the tournament saw two teams go undefeated in their divisions. In the Red Division, the United States defeated all five oppenants in their division to gain the top seed in the semifinals. In the Blue Division, Germany won its five round robin games. Prior to this tournament, Germany had never won an international U-19 contest.
In the Red Division there were a number of highly contested games. Canada defeated the Iroquois Nationals in a close game 15–12. England defeated Australia in an overtime game 12–11.
The United States earned one of the automatic semi-final berths by winning the division, while Canada earned the second spot based on it 4–1 record. The remaining two semi-finals spots were earned by a series of Play-in game.
The "play-in games" featured the top-ranked Blue Division Germany team facing up against Team England. The English defeated Germany 16–2. The Iroquois Nationals met Team Scotland, and were victorious with a final score of 28–2. The Iroquois Nationals advanced to the semifinals.
Semi-finals
The July 10 semifinals saw the United States face England, and the Iroquois Nationals face Team Canada. The United States defeated England 25–5, extending their all-time Under-19 tournament record to 35-0. Team Canada defeated the Iroquois Nationals 23–12 on the play of attacker Mark Cockerton (son of Hall of Famer Stan Cockerton) who scored five goals in the contest.
Finals
|The finals took place on July 12, 2008, and was won once again by the United States with a final score of 19–12. This is the United States sixth Under-19 World Lacrosse Championship gold medal, and their third consecutive finals victory over Team Canada. The United States was led by the play of goalkeeper Adam Ghitelman and three goals by captain Craig Dowd.
In the bronze medal game, Iroquois Nationals defeated England.