7TH PLACE GAME - Ireland 16 Germany 12 - BOX SCORE
COQUITLAM - A five-goal night from Tom Lyons, including the eventual game-winner, led Ireland to a 16-12 win over Germany in a wild and entertaining seventh-place game. The game featured seven ties and two lead changes, before Ireland put the game away with five goals in the fourth quarter at the 2016 Federation of International Lacrosse Under-19 Men's Lacrosse World Championship presented by Novus on Friday.
"We just had to keep our heads," said Ireland midfielder Ruairi Dunbar. "It was very tough mentally, this match was, and we all had to come together, as we've done previously in the tournament - as a family - and keep going."
The Carlow, Ireland, native scored the game's final goal, his first in international play.
"It was a bit sore," he said, "But it felt great to get my first Irish goal, especially in a match like that - how intense it was. Just a great feeling."
Rory Madigan added seven points for Ireland, on three goals and four assists, while Conor Austin also scored three times. A pair from Patrick Magliocchino and singles by Jason Reid and Roan Gideon rounded out the Irish scoring.
For their part, Germany had a balanced attack, with eight different goal scorers. Jeremiah Vanderkin-Jus scored a hat trick, while Soeren Spiegel and Jakob Bockermann each netted pairs. Singles by Lukas Kins, David Beckmann, Finn Post, Kai Sontowski and Per-Anders Olters rounded out the scoring for Germany, who finished seventh at the last U-19 championship in 2012.
John McKeague picked up the win in goal for Ireland, making five saves. Florian Faellenbacher and Mikhail Zinoviev split goalkeeping duties for Germany, combining for eight saves.
Ireland's Ciaran Lewis was 16-for-24 on faceoffs, while Germany's Lukas Kins was 7-for-16 and Finn Post was 3-for-10.
Ireland finishes seventh in the first appearance at the U-19 level. They are the hosts of the next championship, to be held in Limerick in July 2020 and will be looking to improve on that finish.
"We just keep building the program of Ireland Lacrosse and just get ready for the next world tournament," said Dunbar.
