The 2008 Men's U–19 World Lacrosse Championship (U–19) was held at

Percy Perry Stadium Percy Perry Stadium is a multi-purpose, fully lit stadium in Coquitlam, British Columbia. It was built for the 1991 B.C. Summer Games, as part of the district's 100th anniversary, and has featured events with crowds of over 4,000 spectators. Pri ...

Coquitlam Coquitlam ( ) is a city in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly suburban, Coquitlam is the List of cities in British Columbia, sixth-largest city in the province, with a population of 148,625 in 2021, and one of the 21 municipa ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

from July 3 to July 12. The event was sponsored by the

International Lacrosse Federation World Lacrosse (WL), formerly the Federation of International Lacrosse, is the international governing body of lacrosse, responsible for the men's, women's, and indoor versions of the sport. It was established in 2008 by the merger of the prev ...

. This international

field lacrosse Field lacrosse is a full contact outdoor men's sport played with ten players on each team. The sport originated among Native Americans, and the modern rules of field lacrosse were initially codified by Canadian William George Beers in 1867. ...

tournament is held every four years, and teams are composed of players that are under the age of nineteen. 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 Women's lacrosse (or girls' lacrosse), sometimes shortened to lax, is a sport with twelve players on the field at a time (including the goalkeeper). Originally played by indigenous peoples of the Americas, the modern women's game was introduce ...

, the

International Federation of Women's Lacrosse Associations World Lacrosse (WL), formerly the Federation of International Lacrosse, is the international governing body of lacrosse, responsible for the men's, women's, and indoor versions of the sport. It was established in 2008 by the merger of the prev ...

, to form the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL). Future U–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 divisions: the elite "Blue Division" and the "Red Division" consisting of nations where lacrosse is still developing. The tournament consisted of

round robin Round-robin may refer to: Computing * Round-robin DNS, a technique for dealing with redundant Internet Protocol service hosts * Round-robin networks, communications networks made up of radio nodes organized in a mesh topology * Round-robin schedu ...

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 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

play-in games to compete in the semi-final round. The Blue Division was composed of the following six teams: the United States had won each of the ILF's

Under-19 World Lacrosse Championship The World Lacrosse Men's U20 Championship, formerly known as the World Lacrosse Men's U19 Championship, are held every four years to award world championships for the under-20 age group in men's lacrosse. The tournaments are sanctioned by World L ...

tournaments since its inception in 1988; Canada led by head coach

Gary Gait Gary Charles Gait (born April 5, 1967) is a Canadian retired Hall of Fame professional lacrosse player and currently the head coach of the men’s lacrosse team at Syracuse University, where he played the sport collegiately. On January 24, 2017, ...

; Iroquois Nationals, the Nationals are the only First Nations/Native American team to compete in international competition; 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. Wales and South Korea made their second appearances in the Under-19 World Lacrosse Championship. Germany also participated, but was granted a waiver by the ILF to field a team consisting of Under-21 year olds.

Round Robin results

The round robin portion of the tournament determined seeding for the semi-finals and the placing games. The top two teams in the Blue Division were awarded automatic semi-final berths, while the third and fourth place teams from the Blue Division met with the first and second place teams from the Red Division in two semi-final "play-in games". Two teams went undefeated in their divisions. In the Blue Division, the United States defeated all five opponents in their division to gain the top seed in the semifinals. In the Red Division, Germany won its five round robin games. Prior to this tournament, Germany had never won an international U-19 contest. In the Blue 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 its 4–1 record. The remaining two semi-finals spots were earned by two play-in games. The "play-in games" featured the top-ranked Red 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, the United States defeated Canada 19–12. It was the United States' sixth 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.

All tournament awards

References

External links

2008 Under-19 Men's World Lacrosse Championship Official Website
{{World Lacrosse U-20 Championship Under-19 World Lacrosse Championships Under 19 Sport in Coquitlam International lacrosse competitions hosted by Canada Lacrosse in British Columbia ILF Men's U-19 World Lacrosse Championship