World Lacrosse Championships 3 Everything thread [Archive]

Sarzonia

27-12-2008, 06:40

Lacrosse.

That sport had only cursory interest in Sarzonia after the country's limited foray into the sport, but support gradually picked up for the game. It led to the establishment of an eight-team league in Sarzonia just before the recession hit. The best players from that league came together to form a national team.

Harold Price was tapped to serve as the team's head coach after guiding the Wilmington Sharks to a Incorporated Lacrosse League championship. Voting by the league's players and coaching staffs led to the selection of a 20-man roster.

The roster for the Sarzonia Slash would be as follows:

If my opponent RPs first, they may:
Choose my goalscorers: Y
Godmode scoring events: N
RP injuries: Y (within reason; don't kill anybody, mmmkay?)
Godmode injuries: N
Eject/Penalize players: Y
Godmode "other" events: N
Style modifier: 0

Coach: Harold Price (54). Named the inaugural coach of the Wilmington Sharks, he guided the team to playoff appearances in each of the league's three seasons, culminating in their 11-6 win over the Portland Thorns in the ILL championship game.
Defensive Coordinator: Rob Davies (41). Davies was named the Thorns head coach after five years as Joe Gibbs University's head coach. He brought a stifling defensive system from the college game that translated to the Thorns improving from the league's worst defence to the league's best.
Goaltenders Coach: Dave Peeters (44). Serves in the same role for the Thorns. He was the only coach on the Thorns staff retained by Davies after tapes showed the defence leaked like a sieve.

Roster: (No., Name, Team, Height, Weight. Starters in BOLD.)

Goalkeepers
1 Craig Larrabie (Portland Thorns) 6-foot-1, 175 pounds. Larrabie, 30, led the league in goals against average (6.97) and wins (11) en route to a divisional round win. However, he had his one bad game in the championship against Wilmington.
18 Mark Tomscik, (Woodstock Wave), 5-foot-10, 165 pounds. Tomsick, 23, makes up for his lack of height with quick reflexes and strong athleticism. He earned the starting job toward the end of the season for the Hawks and won each of his three games with a 8.23 goals against average. He should be the starter next season.

Defence
2 Dane Tarrabba (Wilmington Sharks) 5-foot-11, 157 pounds. Tarraba was named the Slash's team captain despite just turning 25 years old for a reason. He demonstrates strong leadership qualities for the Sharks and all but willed the team to its championship victory.
5 Paul Landry (Nicksia Nighthawks) 6-foot-2, 205 pounds. Landry's 23 years old and fast, but he's also very physical. He's often matched up against the opposing team's best attackman and often dispenses beatings.
7 Tom Swensen (Saugerties Sounders) 6-foot, 180 pounds. At 33 years old, Swensen is the oldest player on the Slash's roster. He's also the most savvy defender. He may not have the athleticism to keep up with the fastest attackmen, but he makes up for it by being able to read their tendencies and make timely checks.
8 Bill Harbour (Rypien Rough Riders) 5-10, 155 pounds. Perhaps the best all-around athlete on the Slash, Harbour often gives up height to his opponents, but never gives up heart. He turned 27 before the team opened training camp.
9 Clay Cantner (Portsmouth Pirates) 6-foot-1, 172 pounds. This 31-year-old relies on positioning and his size to keep attackmen from dominating the crease. He also serves as the emergency third-string goalie.
12 Spencer Wallingford (Portland) 5-foot-8, 168 pounds. Considered a pest by many of his opponents, the 28-year-old can get under the skin of many a midfielder or attackman with his aggressive play.

Midfielders
6 Carter Whitlock (Wilmington) 6-foot-1, 170 pounds. Left-handed shot who has blazing speed and great endurance, this 26-year-old scored 27 goals, a league high for midfielders.
10 Dwayne Dyer (Lexington Leopards) 5-foot-11, 177 pounds. A master of the faceoff, the 30-year-old Dyer can organise the offence like few other players in the league. He played for Price until a midseason trade brought him to Lexington.
11 Pat Wade (Portland) 6-foot-2, 180 pounds. Better known for his endurance and his defensive play, Wade, 24, still scored 11 goals before a midseason injury. He was eligible to come back for the playoffs, but the team held him out to get fully healed.
13 Jesse Barkley (Woodstock) 6-foot, 185 pounds. Shows ability to play both ways for the Wave with great endurance and solid speed. He turned 27 just as the season ended.
14 Howie Cooper (Nicksia) 5-foot-9, 150 pounds. Elusive and quick, but does not possess blinding speed. The 23-year-old shows an ability to play on either flank, but doesn't do as well at center midfield.
15 Mike Nelson (Wilmington), 5-foot-11, 165 pounds. Nelson, 25, can play either forward or midfield and has played both because of injuries to the Sharks attackmen. He is long on speed, but relatively short on stamina.

Attackmen
16 Tim Cole (Portland), 6-foot-1, 180 pounds. Cole, 31, has a nose for the goal, scoring a league-leading 52 goals on the season. Depends on solid service and his size for positioning in front of opposing goalies.
17 Robbie Fernando (Lexington), 5-foot-11, 170 pounds. Fernando, 27, is arguably the best forward in the league at creating his own shot. Led the team in scoring with 27 goals in 10 games played. Missed the first four games due to appendicitis.
20 Nate Longley (Wilmington), 6-foot-175 pounds. Longley, 21, is a promising youngster who is more mature than his age suggests. He has the best stamina and speed combination of any player on the team, owing to his youth and a cross country background in secondary school.
22 Fred Williams (Nicksia), 6-foot-3, 162 pounds. Tall and gangly, Williams, 23, has been instructed by his coaching staff to put on muscle. He still has a knack for putting the ball in the net, scoring 20 goals in seven games.
23 Matt Cornwall (Woodstock), 5-foot-8, 142 pounds. Fast and elusive, Cornwall, 24, is a guy who can not only slip between defenders and score on unsuspecting goalies, he can also duck a vicious hit. He scored 39 goals to lead the Wave in scoring.
27 Ben Christian (Rypien), 6-foot-2, 175 pounds. Christian, 25, led the Rough Riders with 29 goals in 14 games, using a combination of size and strength to overpower smaller defenders and surprising speed to get away from those equally as large as he is.

Secristan

27-12-2008, 10:36

Those mildly familiar with us in the competitions that we have taken part in to date probably know that Secristan does not choose its team by talent, but instead awards positions to the highest bidders (meeting criteria, of course). In lacrosse, this is not the case. The players in which Secristan is sending to the World Lacrosse Championships are indeed the best, and most talented players in the country.

Modifier: +1.3

Group Stage Home Games will be played at Monopoly Stadium in Amherst.

If my opponent RPs first, they may:
Choose my goalscorers: Y
Godmode scoring events: Y
RP injuries: Y in only saying they are hurt
Godmode injuries: N
Eject/Penalize players: Y
Godmode "other" events: N

Coach: Steve Cameron, 47, East Penthoria Marlins
– Cameron likes to emphasize speed in all components in of the game. On the national team, the attackers will be the quickest, but even the middies and defense run very well. So while the Millionaires will be explosive, they will be better defensively then you may think.

STARTING LINEUP:

GK: Eric Hutchinson, 35, Ocala Sun Devils
– Veteran leadership is something that Hutchinson will provide to this team as a true field general in directing the defense. He has good vision, and reads the ball off the stick extremely well. As a top goalkeeper in our league for many years, he will have the respect of everyone in the field.

LD: Chris Anderson, 34, Key South Islanders
– Anderson is another player who directs the play very well mainly in communication with the goalie so that he always knows where the ball is. Chris isn’t afraid to whack you with the stick a few times, but knows how to conceal it pretty well.

CD: Steve Traulsen, 31, Homestead Sailors
– Traulsen is a master with the stick and intercepting passes. Not just that, but he does a good job in getting the ball up the field, as the first pass from the defensive zone can be so crucial. He runs very well, making him ideal to play in the middle.

RD: Jack Benjamin, 30, East Penthoria Marlins
– Benjamin is a player that looks like he’d be better as a middie, but it’s because of extraordinary defensive awareness that he plays in the back. Opponents won’t sneak plays by him very often.

LM: Shane Ellis, 27, Manchester Panthers
– Ellis has blazing speed, and because of that, the opponent must know where he is at all times. He will get right up there with the attack, and then quickly get back to cover his man on defense. He could be a little soft, but that only matters when the opponent can catch up to him.

CM: Matt Gardiner, 28, Lakeland Sea Wolves
– First off, Gardiner is a master in the circle on faceoffs. His ability to position himself is unparalleled, and then he does a terrific job finding his man. But Matt will also take quite a few shots himself, and score frequently, though he will have more assists in the long run.

RM: Tim Pozniak, 26, Bridgefield Warlords
– Pozniak is a complete package. There isn’t one thing that immediately stands out at you, because he’s able to do everything so well and do it so effortlessly. If anything should be mentioned above all else, it will be that he will likely lead the team in penalties.

LA: John Dineen, 29, Stockton Firebirds
– Dineen has the hardest shot on the team, and perhaps in the entire tournament, once clocked at around 103 MPH. This will make him absolutely deadly, and even scary playing besides the finesse playmaker Scott Cushman. You will see these two hook up quite a bit. Not only does he have the shot, and he is frighteningly (for everyone else) accurate with it.

CA: Scott Cushman, 26, Manchester Panthers
– Just an absolute delight to watch. The things that this man can do while carrying a stick are absolutely mind-boggling. He always knows where his teammates are, and passes with such precision. Scott also does a terrific job in confusing the other team, because they never know which teammate he is going to pass too. And to boot, he’s also very good defensively.

RA: Tom Sutterby, 27, Kleric City Mustangs
– Sutterby is more like Dineen then Cushman in that he had a blistering hard shot that also gets into the triple digits. But he is also a playmaker himself, so look for a ton of creative type passes between Sutterby and Cushman.

BENCH
G- John Printzky, 31, Stockton Firebirds
D- Craig Genski, 33, Kleric City Mustangs
D- Mark Keating, 30, Key South Islanders
M - Aaron Proctor, 24, East Penthoria Marlins
M - Mike Vincelli, 28, Cloverfield Hurricanes
A- Eric Hopkins, 27, Lakeland Sea Wolves
A- Michael Stark, 25, Ocala Sun Devils

Cassadaigua

27-12-2008, 14:51

Here is our roster for World Lacrosse Championships 3. As a nation that is 65% female, our entire team is made up of women. A couple men did try out though.

Starters in Green
Bench players in Red

Coach: Melanie Kaplan, Age: 40

Goalies:
Jennifer Tipton, Age: 27
Cindy Heywood, Age: 32

Defense:
Heather Emerton, Age: 25
Debbie Miles, Age: 29
Amanda Primrose, Age: 28
Melanie Babnik, Age: 27
Alexandra Shuler, Age: 31
Meghan Shatford, Age: 19
Erin Pacek, Age: 18

Midfielders:
Lauren Mineri, Age: 22
Tara Lindfield, Age: 25
Ashley Norville, Age: 24 (Team Captain)
Nicole Konchesky, Age: 30
Danielle Royce, Age: 21
Trista Bayliss, Age: 24

Attack:
Carrie Boardman, Age: 26
Courtney Bernard, Age: 27
Hannah Levenson, Age: 20
Julie Freier, Age: 25
Sarah McCreedy, Age: 26
Peggy Furman, Age: 34

Style Modifier: +1.4
Home Stadium: The 73,183 seat Concord Heights Stadium

If my opponent RPs first, they may:
Choose my goalscorers: Yes
Godmode scoring events: Yes
RP injuries: No
Godmode injuries: No
Eject/Penalize players: Yes
Godmode "other" events: Yes, feel free to have fun just don’t kill anyone.

Dancougar

28-12-2008, 22:14

We gather here on the field, and a thunderous roar
Welcomes combatants in a match of destiny
The clash of sticks and of men as we shoot at goal
Awakens urges and the spirits deep within

Lacrosse! Lacrosse!

These youthful men and women bravely give their all
Fighting to protect their pride and to fill their hearts
Never halting the charge
Till the final victory!!

Will you love me tomorrow?

Cutting through the field of dreams
With the speed and strength and will
Never stopping till they reach the goal looming up ahead!

Lacrosse! Lacrosse!
Lacrosse!

Dancougar will bring back the team that finished third in their first WLC tournament. The head coach is Bruno Worldly, with assistant Samantha Millome and chief statistician and strategist Beck Sedol. They'll play an attack-biased +1 with the following lineup:

GK Kai-Fu Linn
Kai-Fu hates aggressive play about as much as he hates it when he gets no help from his defense. He's got decent reflexes and good awareness, but he's got issues with forward Rick because of his sister...

D Sally LaClaudia
Sally's got guts, but she's a bit undersized for a defender and won't play very physically. Nevertheless, she's usually calm and tactically sound. She's Roy's girlfriend.

D Kamjin Kravshera
Kamjin likes to hit people. He's known as the "Ally Killer" because he'll go through his own teammates to reach an opponent and not care. He enjoys playing the game just for the sake of playing.

D Layla Laplamiz
Don't let her looks fool you; Layla will come at you full force and take you out. She puts up a tough front to try and get Kamjin's attention, but he doesn't seem to realize that she likes him.

M Ben Zakikaki
Ben's an idiot. He's very confident in his abilities, but if the team needs him to make a play in order to win the game, they may as well take the 'L' now.

M Sterling Jenius
One of the best midfielders during his time on college, he has excellent awareness and ball-handling skills. The game comes naturally to him and he was called a 'genius,' and as long as he's playing well, he's not afraid to gloat a little.

M Molly Fallyna-Jenius
Sterling's wife; they met as opponents during a college game and instantly fell in love when they turned out to be an even match on the field. Because they wore red and blue jerseys when they played, the two together were known as the 'Purple Haze.'

F Roy de Havilland
Confident hotshot forward with years of coaching experience at the youth level. Roy is cool-headed on the field and has great faith in his protege, Rick. He's seeing defender Sally.

F Rick Gatherer
Rick is a rising star in the lacrosse world, at least in Dancougar, thanks to the expert instruction of Roy de Havilland. Last time, he was selected for the national team based solely on Roy's recommendation, and he made his 'senpai' look good by hitting several clutch goals. He has a crush on Kai-Fu's sister, May.

F Lisa Hayase
Lisa can be aggressive and oversensitive, but she's got good vision to hit passes from anywhere on the field. She has a strange infatuation for the younger Rick which she tries her best to hide.

The bench consists of unnamed players which can all be referred to as "Spacy Redshirt" for roleplaying purposes. The aforementioned May Linn can also be considered the team cheerleader, although after performing well at the Dancougar Idol competition with her song, "My Boyfriend is an Athlete," who knows if she'll be able to come see the team play. She sees Rick as a close friend, but maybe not as a boyfriend.

Among the plays in the team's tactical arsenal:
* Daedalus Attack: Similar to the 'Flying V' from the Mighty Ducks, the team creates a wedge and escorts a ballcarrier into the opponent's end. Players exchange the ball within the formation until one is able to break out for a clean shot.
* Pinpoint Barrier: A zone defense which is aimed at preventing the opposing forwards from getting an easy, open shot at Kai-Fu.

If people roleplay before me, they can choose my scorers, penalize, and cause minor injuries to anyone in the starting lineup. Major injuries, ejections, godmods, and killings should be limited to my endless supply of Spacy Redshirts.

The team plays at some random field that has a few stands off to the side and a concession shack that doubles as team headquarters:
http://www.clarku.edu/athletics/varsity/mens_soccer/field_2005/field_1.jpg

Secristan

29-12-2008, 03:35

Sign-ups have now officially closed. Fifteen teams will be participating, so there will be three groups of five. Teams will play those in the group twice both home and on the road and the top two teams in each group will advance to Secristan for the knockouts.

In knockouts, the top two seeds will have a first round bye. Then #3 will play #6 and #4 will play #5. The winner of the 3-6 game will play the #2 seed and the winner of the 4-5 game will play the #1 seed. The winners of those games then meet in the final.

Oiseaui

29-12-2008, 21:26

http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/5953/oiseauheadergj9.png

Style Modifier: +2
The team is all male, and features two subs per position (with exception of Goalie), totaling 17 players.

All home games will be played in the "Oiseaui Lacrosse Stadium".
http://img367.imageshack.us/img367/7280/oiseauilacrossestadiumyl9.png

Uniform
http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/9725/lacrossejerseysfk6.png

The Jersey is shown only (home - away). The shorts primary color matches that of the Jersey, with a stripe down each size which color matches the Jersey shoulders. Obviously, the Jersey is shown flat (without pads).

GENERAL STAFF

Coach: Jefferson Schaumacher
Assistant Coach: Doug Busby
Fitness Coach: Columbus Thorn
Manager: Rory Mullin
Assistant Manager: Demitrius Richter
Physio: Marcel Dare
Physio: Blaine Workman
Waterboy: Quintin Noe

COACHING STAFF DETAILS

»Coach

Jefferson Schaumacher
Age - 28

Originally a Lacrosse player in college, Jefferson was unable to break into Professional Lacrosse. However, the sport was his passion and after a few years of trying other professions he was able to find a minor coaching job for the "Jemi Lynx". Under Jefferson's leadership they went on to win the national championship so when a coach was needed for the National team he was first choice.

»Assistant Coach

Doug Busby
Age - 52

Long time coach to the "Jemi Lynx," Doug retired when Jefferson took over. Due to his previous job, he has an extensive knowledge of the base playbook Jefferson uses and therefore he was picked simply due to the short time span they had to form a team.

DEFENSIVE

»Starting Line Up

Dominic Fahey
Number: 02
Age: 20
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 145 lbs
Position: Goalie

The leading Goalie in Oiseaui, Dominic was the first to try out for the national team when it was announced one would be formed. He has quick hands and a very fast reaction time though due to the fact that he is left-handed, he is often easily scored on when the high right section of the net is aimed for.

Kirby Wiseman
Number: 04
Age: 22
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 152
Position: Defenseman

Having played Lacrosse since a young boy, but never having played professionally Wiseman saw this as his opportunity to finally fulfill his dream. Until now Kirby had worked for an accounting firm and when the national team formation was announced he did not plan on trying out. However, his best friend was aware of his talent and urged him on. Now he's on the team and has never been happier.

Darryl Levin
Number: 06
Age: 20
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 184
Position: Defenseman

Originally born in Bigtopia, Levin's family moved to Oiseaui when he was 5. Since then he's played non-stop from Primary school through College and eventually into professional lacrosse. While he is not the tallest player on the team, he is the largest and is often considered the most intimidating player on the team due to his aggressive defense style.

Keith Tam
Number: 08
Age: 24
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 156
Position: Defenseman

One third of the triplet brothers known as, "Lacrosse Magic," Keith is the smallest brother and the only defensive player. Slower than his siblings Keith is known for his great eye and amazing ability to turn the game around; from nearly scored on, to down the field so his team can score.

»Sub

Gerardo Marsh
Number: 10
Age: 17
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 147
Position: Goalie

The youngest player on the team, Gerardo did great in high school and received a full ride to University due to his playing but the Coach Jefferson still doesn't believe he's ready for national scale, "Maybe next year."

Nicolas Birch
Number: 12
Age: 20
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 130
Position: Defenseman

Better than most, Birch is still slower & smaller than the other Defenseman on the team. In the case one of the others is injured he's a great replacement, but he's a replacement at best.

Franklin Lerner
Number: 14
Age: 29
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 170
Position: Defenseman

Removed from his national team when 25 for steroid use, Lerner gave up Lacrosse and hadn't played since. However, when national try-outs began Doug Bugsby (having formerly coached him) gave him a call and asked him to give it a try. A great player but it had been so long since he last played that he seemed to have lost some of his flare.

OFFENSIVE

»Starting Line Up

Frederick Tam
Number: 01
Age: 24
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 165
Position: Attackman

The second largest of the brother team known as, "Lacrosse Magic," Frederick is often called the best Defensive Offenseman in Oiseaui. The King of Riding Frederick is often the man who saves the day by regaining the ball from the opposing teams defense and has been called the beast for his aggressive play style when pressured.

Isais Power
Number: 03
Age: 26
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 164
Position: Attackman

The top scorer in Oiseaui, Isais has speed unlike anyone else and is considered to be one of the most intimidating Attackman in the league due to his aggressiveness and quick play speed. Humble and truly in it for love of the game he is also often quiet and has a brooding sense about him. On & Off the field he comes off like an entirely different person.

Cliff Prewitt
Number: 05
Age: 18
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 135
Position: Attackman

Raised in an underprivileged area, Cliff struggled most of his life with his one and only true passion being Lacrosse. Often his holiday presents and any spare money his parents had was spent on his gear but in the end it paid off. Now he is attending University on a full ride, and he is already being pursued by numerous professional Lacrosse teams both in and out of Oiseaui.

Leo Tam
Number: 07
Age: 24
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 172
Position: Midfielder

The final brother of, "Lacrosse Magic," Leo is often single handedly referred to as the second line of defense. The largest of his brothers, he also has adapted a defensive style of play; if for some reason his brothers don't do their job he is always there to ensure it does get finished.

Foster Yanez
Number: 09
Age: 24
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 143
Position: Midfielder

Originally a face-off middie, Foster grew tired of always being substituted out after face-off and honed his skill. Now a great offensive player, Foster has quickly become one of the best midfielders in Oiseaui. He is quick, decisive, an often leaves his opponents questioning how he made a play so fast.

Max Shifflett
Number: 11
Age: 18
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 172
Position: Midfielder

The youngest starting player on the team, Max is over-confidant and arrogant but he has the skills to back it up. That being said, Jefferson does not like a show-boater and Shifflett has been warned to keep himself calm for he will be substituted out.

»Subs

Kieth Currie
Number: 13
Age: 22
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 170
Position: Attackman

While he's got a lot of heart, he isn't aggressive enough for the team's style of play.

Myron Deaton
Number: 15
Age: 19
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 130
Position: Attackman

Contrary to #13, Myron is too offensive and is often kicked out of games. Therefore it was decided he's best left for last minute substitution.

Nathan Hylton
Number: 17
Age: 27
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 140
Position: Midfielder

Had a lot of skill during his primary and high school years, however, since then he's been used purely as a face-off middie and only a face-off middie.

Darell Hicks
Number: 19
Age: 34
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 150
Position: Midfielder

The oldest player on the team, Darell was the last man hired. He tried out with everyone else and originally wasn't going to be chosen though after Jefferson found out he'd likely retire next year he decided to place him on the team simply out of respect of a once great player.

My opponent, if they RP first, may do the following:
Choose my Goalscorers Y
Godmod Scoring Events N
RP injuries to my players Y
No major injuries.
Max time out of play should be equal to 2 or less games.
Godmod injuries to my players N
Hand out Yellow cards to my players Y
Hand out Red cards to my players N
Godmod Other Events N

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/5497/oiseauisportssealxf2.png

Newmanistan

31-12-2008, 07:18

In Newmanistan, Lacrosse isn’t a “smaller” or a “niche” sport. It is in fact, one of the most popular sports in the country, and stadiums fill to capacity with just as many people as their would be at baseball or football games. Due to this, the Empire expects nothing less then to win a championship. So far, they have been very successful, winning the inaugural World Lacrosse Championships in Kura-Pelland, and then advancing to the championship game in the 2nd WLC where they were defeated by, of all teams, Taeshan. Expect many Newmanistanian fans to travel to your venue in away games to the point where you better have a good showing yourself or it will sound like a Newmanistan home game. For the finals which the Rockets expect to make, our fans will aggressively bid for seats at the Secristani venues. Being our geographic neighbor, travel will be much easier for us then for most.

Team Nickname: The Rockets
Style Modifier: + 1.7
Home Stadium: All home games will be played at a different stadium, in which we will announce in our “Group Draw” RP.

RP Permissions:
Choose my goalscorers: Y
Godmode scoring events: Y
RP injuries: Y, only in saying they are hurt. I’ll take it from there.
Godmode injuries: N
Eject/Penalize players: Y
Godmode "other" events: N

Manager: Prince Michael
Age: 45
Team: Pocono City Capitals
Bio: Prince Michael is the brother of Empress Jessica and has made lacrosse his life. He had guided the team in the first two World Lacrosse Championships and commands the instant respect of his team. This isn’t just because he is royalty, although that probably helps somewhat. The Prince was a highly successful lacrosse player himself, and played in the NLL (Newmanistan Lacrosse League) as an attacker for six years, leading the league in scoring twice before he was made to give it up as opposing coaches claimed he was getting preferential treatment from the officials. Still, the man knows and understands the game like no other and even though he has already proven himself to the world, he takes complete pride in guiding the national team.

Player: Jason Copeland
Position: G
Age: 30
Number: 31
Team: Centralia Cougars
Bio: Copeland reads the play very well, and doesn’t bite on the first move by attackers. He is confident and poised in front of the goal. Not only does he read the attackers well, but he has exceptional anticipation for options the ball carrier may be looking to pass too. This has made him the best goalie in the Empire, so likely, by association one the best in the world. He’s not afraid to give you a whack either, if you get too close.

Player: Pete Buckley
Position: LD
Age: 28
Number: 8
Team: Hastings Crusaders
Bio: Reads and anticipates the play as good as you could possibly want. He’s got average height, but Buckley is bulked up quite well. This gives him great strength to overpower attackers in nearly every situation. Pete knows this, and uses it on every possible chance he gets.

Player: Chris Mattison
Position: CD
Age: 29
Number: 4
Team: South Tier Seagulls
Bio: Mattison is speedy enough to be an attacker or play in the midfield, but his defensive awareness make him best suited to play in this spot. That speed and great reaction will help him always be in proper position defensively, and allows him to jump into an attack every once in a while if he sees an opening for himself. He’s led the NLL in goals by the defense the last three years. He’s not the type to be extremely physical, but he’s not a pansy either.

Player: Michael Leahey
Position: RD
Age: 27
Number: 3
Team: Pocono City Capitals
Bio: A very intelligent and physical defender. This may deceive those who are not as familiar with him, because Leahey’s physical frame doesn’t immediately strike you as someone who can hurt you. But once they’ve been hit a few times, they’ll become a believer. Though there is much more to him then that. Michael will completely take the person he is assigned to out of the game by smothering him with great defensive skills, especially in terms of knocking the ball lose and intercepting passes.

Player: Michael Kinser
Position: LM
Age: 20
Number: 13
Team: North Charlotte Wildcats
Bio: The 20-year old is making his national team debut in this championship after having a stellar first two seasons in the NLL. After winning Rookie of the Year two seasons ago, Kinser was 5th in the league in assists and 9th in overall scoring this past season, which is especially impressive when you consider he has a weak supporting cast.

Player: Kyle Foster
Position: CM
Age: 28
Number: 25
Team: Tundra Falls Mariners
Bio: Foster is a highly confident player who believes he can do anything he pleases out on the field. His skill set makes this pretty easy. He has a cradle like you’ve never seen before, which enables him to maneuver around the opposing midfielders pretty easily. Foster will have more assists then he will goals, because he will always prioritize setting up the attackers, but he will quietly rack up a decent goal total for himself as well. His speed also allows him to get back very quickly, and be good on defense. He is a trash talker. But he can back it up.

Player: Matt Knight
Position: RM
Age: 31
Number: 19
Team: Putnam Lake Eagles
Bio: Knight is probably best compared to a power forward in hockey. He will jump right in to any offensive chance, and like to crowd the area in front of the goal and set a screen or a pick. His shot is very accurate. Knight will not be the first guy the Rockets look to to score goals, but you cannot forget about him.

Player: Jason Green
Position: LA
Age: 25
Number: 28
Team: Olympia Gladiators
Bio: Green, for the longest time, has been in the shadows of the great Keith Taylor and Curt Farrell, and he has thrived in his opportunities thus far to be able to be on the same attack with them on the national team.. Look for Green to be impressive, and with the entire attack in their third WLC working together, expect them to have wonderful chemistry.

Player: Keith Taylor
Position: CA
Age: 27
Number: 14
Team: Pocono City Capitals
Bio: A complete playmaker. Taylor is one of the greatest players in the world, and as he graces the ground of Secristan for this tournament, he is expected to have a huge following. He is, already, a five time NLL MVP, with more trophies likely to come. He can find the back of the net with a level of accuracy that should be among the best in this tournament. Everything you could possibly ask for in an attacker is something in which Taylor excels in.

Player: Curt Farrell
Position: RA
Age: 27
Number: 10
Team: Pocono City Capitals
Bio: Taylor to Farrell or Farrell to Taylor are among the most frequently uses phrases within the Empire. These two have played together for the longest time, and will know where the other is on the field without even looking at them. This leads to a lot of razzle-dazzle finesse type plays between the two of them, and when they play some of the weaker teams in the tournament, look for them to deliberately try to put on a show, as they enjoy doing this. Farrell, himself, as an NLL MVP award to his credit.

Bench:
– Scott Burnett- G (29, Putnam Lake Eagles)
– James Lyons- D (27, Southport Tigers)
– Aaron Applegate- D (26, Tundra Falls Mariners)
– Steve Harrington- M (19, South Tier Seagulls)
– Andy Jacobs- M (29, Stroudsbourg Panthers)
– Matthew Ellerby- A (20, Loudon Leopards)
– Kyle Williams- A (19, Dover City Mountaineers)
– Shawn Watson- Utility (31, Loudon Leopards)

Greal

31-12-2008, 08:08

The Demons

Style Modifier: + 1.5
Home Stadium: Womer Lacrosse Stadium (http://www.suseagulls.com/images/facilities/seagullstadium9.jpg)

My opponent, if they RP first, may do the following:
Choose my goalscorers: Yes
Godmode scoring events: No
RP injuries: Y, I'll determine the severity
Godmode injuries: N
Eject/Penalize players: Y
Godmode "other" events: N

Team Lineup

Defenders

Ross Sony
Number: 1
Age: 24
Position: Goalie

Louisa Gane
Number: 2
Age: 25
Position: Defender

Henry Johnson
Number: 3
Age: 28
Position: Defender

Susan Less
Number: 4
Age: 20
Position: Defender

George Wellington
Number: 5
Age: 25
Position: Goalie (BENCH)

Justin Rells
Number: 6
Age: 25
Position: Defender (BENCH)

Diana Carter
Number: 7
Age: 25
Position: Defender (BENCH)

Sookie Lions
Number: 8
Age: 25
Position: Defender (BENCH)

Midfielders

Jessica Epson (Team Captain)
Number: 9
Age: 27
Position: Midfielder

James Harrison
Number: 10
Age: 30
Position: Midfielder

Joesph Anderson
Number: 11
Age: 26
Position: Midfielder

Juliet Watson
Number: 12
Age: 24
Position: Midfielder (BENCH)

William Sparrow
Number: 13
Age: 26
Position: Midfielder (BENCH)

Peter Greats
Number: 14
Age: 31
Position: Midfielder (BENCH)

Attackers

Anthony Down
Number: 15
Age: 24
Position: Attacker

Anna Williamson
Number: 16
Age: 23
Position: Attacker

Robert McGill
Number: 17
Age: 26
Position: Attacker

Kyle Forrest
Number: 18
Age: 27
Position: Attacker (BENCH)

April Tacer
Number: 19
Age: 29
Position: Attacker (BENCH)

Bradley Laminson
Number: 20
Age: 25
Position: Attacker (BENCH)

Secristan

02-01-2009, 08:19

How about another group draw?

Here is the draw for the 3rd World Lacrosse Championships:

Group A:
Newmanistan
Dancougar
Myedvedeya
Colbourne
The Deadly Irish

Group B:
Taeshan
Lovisa
Greal
Oiseaui
Cassadaigua

Group C:
Secristan
Kura-Pelland
Kjomasasopia*
Sarzonia
Tocrowkia

*- Kjomasasopia never formally withdrew from this despite withdrawing from the World Cup.

Matchday 1 will be on the 5th, and from there games will be scorinated everyday, with no halftime break.

MD1: 1 @ 3, 5 @ 2 Bye: 4
MD2: 1 @ 5, 2 @ 4 Bye: 3
MD3: 4 @ 1, 5 @ 3 Bye: 2
MD4: 2 @ 1, 3 @ 4 Bye: 5
MD5: 3 @ 2, 4 @ 5 Bye: 1
(Note that I am not just repeating MD6 to equal MD1 and am mixing things up a little just to be different)
MD6: 1 @ 4, 3 @ 5 Bye: 2
MD7: 2 @ 3, 5 @ 4 Bye: 1
MD8: 3 @ 1, 2 @ 5 Bye: 4
MD9: 5 @ 1, 4 @ 2 Bye: 3
MD10: 1 @ 2, 4 @ 3 Bye: 5

First and second place teams advance to Secristan. The best two first place teams receive a first round bye.

Newmanistan

02-01-2009, 15:08

THE ROCKET REPORT

TAKE BACK THE TROPHY

Pocono City, Newmanistan- The Empire must re-establish itself as the greatest lacrosse playing nation in the World. After rolling through the first World Lacrosse Championships in Kura-Pelland all the way to the championship, Newmanistan was rightfully crowned the champion. No one could deny that the Empire was the best in the world as the trophy was presented to Prince Michael and the victorious Rockets. The second World Lacrosse Championship was held here in Newmanistan. It should have just been a formality. The Rockets cruised through the group stage going undefeated, and then continued to turn away all opposition until it met Taeshan in the final. Taeshan, the nation in which we had owned in everything to the point where you would think the Empress should have some kind of authority on their people. But the Purple Knights...... those damn (expletive) Purple Knights rained on our inevitable back to back championship. They won. At the Proving Grounds of all places we had to watch them, the damn Purple Knights, celebrate a championship. The Tundra Falls spirits felt sorry for them is the only explanation we could have for allowing such a terrible result to take place on sacred ground. Taeshan is the champion. How could we allow that to happen?

Now, the third World Lacrosse Championships begin, and they will take place on One Big Island. For the first time though, all the games will not be in the host country. Yes, this is the first time in which each country will have a home and a road game. Figures Secristan would do that. No way the Department of Sports out there could expect to earn a profit on a match between The Deadly Irish and Lovisa now is there? There are 15 teams in the competition, one more then last time so that means three groups of five. To advance to knockouts, you must finish in the top two of the group. The best two teams will have a free pass into the semifinals while the other four teams battle it out. We’ll be blunt. Newmanistan expects to be one of those best two teams. This isn’t the World Cup where we hope to do things, or the World Bowl where we might but there are others better. This is Lacrosse, this is our game, and we expect nothing else then to win a championship.

The road to regaining our title begins with eight group stage games, four at home and four on the road. The only country in our group, which is Group A, where it might be acceptable to lose once too is Dancougar. The Black Wings, in their first year of the tournament proved that first time participants have a shot by advancing to the third place game (sent there by us, we must add), against Land de Wood. The Woodpeckers were the team that the Rockets defeated in the first Lacrosse Championship, so they thought they would have the upper hand. Dancougar had other ideas by beating them in that third place game, embarrassing Land de Wood so much that no one has ever heard from that nation again and it has since been wiped off the map. There is that history also that exists between Newmanistan and Dancougar in other sports. The World Cup and the World Bowl come to mind for some classic games that have been played. There is no Bird on Skates up for grabs, but Newmanistan will be keen on sending a message to the Black Wings that they can have the World Bowl. But they can’t have this. The rest of the group, Myedvedeya, Colbourne, and The Deadly Irish should result in six easy victories. Myedvedeya could have potential, but we didn’t see much from them in the last edition to make us all that worried. Taeshan is in group B and they should win the group though it looks tougher then Group A. Greal came on strong late in the last WLC and will hope to build on that. Oiseaui looks like a nation with quite a bit of potential and Cassadaigua can generally be counted on to be a feisty opponent. Lovisa has been a solid nation and is one the few three time participants remanining. While Taeshan should win this group, they won’t be going undefeated. The hosts from Secristan are in Group C, and should have a good battle with Kura-Pelland here. Sarzonia may have the ability to knock them both off. This is definitely the most competitive group, Kjomasasopia excluded. They go 0-8 unless they actually do have an interest in participating.

Predictions:
Group A

Newmanistan 7-1
Dancougar 6-2
Myedvedeya 3-5
Colbourne 3-5
The Deadly Irish 1-7

Group B

Taeshan 6-2
Greal 5-3
Oiseaui 4-4
Cassadaigua 4-4
Lovisa 1-7

Group C

Secristan 6-2
Sarzonia 6-2
Kura-Pelland 5-3
Tocrowkia 3-5
Kjomasasopia 0-8

First Round:
Taeshan over Greal
Dancougar over Sarzonia

Second Round:
Secristan over Taeshan
Newmanistan over Dancougar

Third:
Taeshan over Dancougar

Championship:
Newmanistan over Secristan

Sarzonia

02-01-2009, 20:04

This occurred at a practice session for the Sarzonian national lacrosse squad, dubbed the Slash.

"Swing it around! Swing it around!"

Harold Price was doing something he rarely did with the Sharks. He yelled.

It seemed his motley crew of lacrosse professionals wasn't getting his system. He knew he had several Sharks on his team. They seemed to understand what Price wanted. But the rest of the team didn't seem to buy in. They had trouble with the power play. This was quite evident as the Slash was practicing its man advantage play.

After seeing enough with the power play ending, Price blew a whistle.

"Men, look. I want you guys to swing the ball around and look for the open man. Right now, you're forcing passes on net when you have guys wide open. I know not all of you are used to playing together, but we've got a short time to get this right before the championships actually begin.

"Now let's finish these drills, then we've got a meeting to discuss the group draw."

After the practice ended and the players showered and changed, Price was waiting for them in the team's conference room. He turned on an overhead light with the group draw.

"We've been assigned to Group 3. The nations in our group include the host country Secristan. The other nations in our group include Kura-Pelland, Tocrowkia and Kjomasasopia. Now, we don't know much about these nations as it pertains to lacrosse, except that Secristan sends its most talented side to lacrosse tournaments. Besides that, we're going to have to pay attention to the game DVDs and to our own assignments.

"I expect you to come out ready to play on Matchday 2. We get a bye for Matchday 1. The coaches will give you assignments for what to look for from each of our opponents, but we're going to focus on preparations for Kura-Pelland. We're facing them first.

"Any questions?" No players raised their hands.

"Good. See you in here tomorrow at 8 a.m."

Price watched the players leave with a look of concern. He hoped the Slash would play a lot better than they practiced today.

Dancougar

02-01-2009, 22:47

A few players were milling around the practice field. Which was the actual field. There was a dull glow coming from the concession shack's fluorescent lighting as coach Bruno Worldly sat, sifting through scouting reports for the players they'd picked up for their second WLC. He sighed and looked outside, where a bunch of players in red pinnies were whipping the ball around during some drill imagined by Samantha.

"Is there something wrong with the new players?" Worldly turned to his assistant and team statistician Beck Sedol, whose laptop and associated accessories were monopolizing the shack's only electrical outlet. "I understand that they are not as skilled as the usual roster, but if we are to mount a serious title challenge, we will need help off the bench."

"Is there a reason they're all named Spacy Redshirt?" asked Worldly, taking a puff from his pipe.

"Eeeeh... think nothing of it," said Sedol dismissively. "I'm more concerned about the rest of the team. They're late."

"They're probably out enjoying a little last-minute relaxation," replied Worldly, as Samantha's whistle rang out as she started fuming over some missed assignments. Worldly watched her run the practice and turned to Sedol, throwing his thumb in her direction. "I don't blame them, if that's what they have to look forward to."

**********

Rick was on his way to the field, which was actually going to be hosting games this time around. Now in college, he figured to be a more polished player. Add in his experience in the previous world championships and he liked his chances of making an impact. Still, he had to wonder how the team was going to afford trips to other nations for qualifying matches. After all, given the field set aside for them by the Sports Ministry, he couldn't expect the team to be breaking even. They'd probably be funded by the football team. Just like school... he thought. Even at this level, some other program is paying for us.

He turned on the radio to provide some background noise for the trip, which was otherwise uneventful and boring. The team was being hosted by Dyson College, located about twenty five miles northwest of Port Vigilence, the capital of the northeastern state of Masato. That choice befuddled him. There were plenty of schools in the state with better facilities, which came as a result of having stronger teams. Oh, well, nothing to be done now but win. If they performed well, they might earn some more funding and attention. Word was that the American football team, after winning its second World Bowl, was getting more coverage... and a shiny new stadium.

When the radio came on, he smiled when he heard the first song that played. It was May.

Zoom zoom, zoom zoom!
The boy I hold in my heart loves to play a game!

Bursting forward as he hears the whistle
Wins the ball and then is seeking teammates
No matter, court or field, he's fighting to get the win!!

A puck or ball, he'll try them all!
With no need to fear...
Defense or not, with all he's got...
So the crowd will cheer!

I love you, you love me!
But when I'm there in the stands, he won't see me...
With all his focus on his man, and not on his girl.

Zoom zoom, zoom zoom!
The boy I hold in my heart loves to play a game!

He'd been keeping in touch with her, but since winning the Dancougar Idol competition, she'd been busy with recording and concerts. Her first hit song, "My Boyfriend is an Athlete," made him wonder if that was her way of trying to reach out to him or if that just happened to be what was written for her. In any case, he knew he was hopelessly smitten, even if she still treated him just like a friend.

As the song ended, his cell phone began to ring. He reached for it and held it to his ear, pulling it back when he heard Lisa's voice explode. "Where the hell are you?! You're late!" she yelled.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm on my way now," Rick replied. "I got hung up leaving Vigilence. I didn't know they were working on the 15."

"You should've left early anyway," she scolded. "We're not going to surprise anyone this time. We have to work hard if our same tactics are going to work."

"I know that," Rick said. "I'll be there in a few minutes, all right? It's not the end of the world." There was a click as she hung up. Rick tossed the phone onto the passenger seat. "Geez, always so touchy with me," he muttered.

**********

"So irresponsible!" Lisa said, tossing her phone into her bag. She turned to Roy and leaned over so their faces were just inches apart. "I think you're rubbing off on him," she said. "He just does as he pleases just because he can score a few goals."

"Sheesh, you're in a foul mood today!" Roy replied. "You can't blame him. Worldly didn't tell us when we had to be here."

The other players were milling about the locker room. The Dyson College field had two sets of bleaches on the same sideline, and underneath each one was a small building. The buildings contained a single room with benches and lockers. There was a single run-down building behind those, near the concession shack, which contained group showers. Because the Dancougar team had both men and women, there had been some hasty modifications to the facilities. The locker room was divided in half by a curtain and they took turns using the showers afterward. It wasn't ideal, but it worked.

Lisa now retreated behind the curtain to change. Sally and Layla were also here. Molly and Sterling were late, as were Ben and Kai-Fu. "So we got Myedvedeya," Roy said at last. "That's going to be cold."

Kamjin, the other person in the room, smiled broadly. "You think there are going to be bears on the roster?" he asked. "I've love to blast one of those guys."

"You're not serious, right?" Lisa called back over the curtain. "You'd bounce right off."

"Won't know until I try, right?" laughed Kamjin.

"More importantly, we've got the Rockets to contend with," Lisa said. "If we could beat them once, that would be great."

"It'll be nice going somewhere that cares about the game!" Sally continued. "We could have a clean locker room with warm showers and a floor that doesn't make me feel sick."

"Heh, don't jinx it," Roy called back. "They might give us crappy digs to make us feel more at home. Especially since they have to deal with this when they come here."

There was a squeak as the door was pushed open. "Hey, you made it, Rick!" Roy said.

Lisa heard him, and as soon as she'd thrown on her top, she burst into the guys' half of the room. "About time you showed up!" she said. The room was deathly quiet. The guys just stared at her, while on the other side, Sally and Layla were giggling. "Whaaaaaat?!"

Rick pointed downward. "Um, Lisa, you're..."

"Nice legs!" Roy whistled. "What do you say, Rick, an eight or a nine?"

Lisa looked down and realized that while she'd gotten her top on, she was still missing pants. Slightly important, that. She shrieked and, with a blush, disappeared behind the curtain, where the giggling burst into laughter.

Taeshan

03-01-2009, 03:14

Groups Announceds for Thrid World Lacrosse Championship

It's that time of year again. After wining the 2nd World Lacrosse championship's the Flaming Falcons return as one of the favorites to win it again. They won't have to face most of the the tough conpetition until later rounds as the closest teams to there rank in there group are Lovisa and Greal, and the Falcons have proven a few times before that these to can be beaten. The Falcons will look to add to there impressive 11-1-2 record in there first two cups to show there supremessy.

The Falcons will of course have to play the afformentioned Lovisans, and the Grealis. they will also have to face Cassidadaigua, and Oiseuai. They are hoping that without Newmanistan, Secristan, Kura Pelland, and Dancougar in there group the road to the next round will be an easy one, and even if it isnt the Falcons only need to finish second to qualify automatically.

Schedule
Taeshan @ Greal
Taeshan @ Cassadaigua
Taeshan VS Oiseaui @ Atlantea District Five Field 127 Seats, Grass Available
Taeshan VS Lovisa @ Atlantea District Eleven Field 1, 300 Seats
Bye Drinking beer, and fun with Jeruselem girls in Jeruselem
Taeshan @ Oiseuai
Bye More Drinking-More Women
Taeshan VS Greal @ Ezra Pound Elementary Field 300 Seats
Taeshan VS Cassadaigua @ Ernest Hemignway Middle School 2,000 Seats
Taeshan @ Lovisa

Secristan

04-01-2009, 11:57

Scorination will begin tomorrow. The approximate time of daily scorination will be between 5-5:30 PM Eastern USA Time.

Cassadaigua

04-01-2009, 16:14

Ashley’s Blog

Let’s get started! Hello everyone, those followers of lacrosse in Cassadaigua should know me by know, but for those who don’t, my name is Ashley Norville and I am a middie. Or midfielder, if you prefer. I am 24, single, and the captain of the team. I was surprised to be named the captain mostly because I am one of the younger starters on the team. That said, I am really excited about representing Cassadaigua in the World Lacrosse Championships. It doesn’t matter what sport you play, every professional athlete wants to be able to say that they are a world champion and we are going to go into this with confidence. When I first heard that there would be a world lacrosse championship, I got so excited, and then when we were formally entered it was a dream come true. Obviously, as the MVP of our league for the last two seasons, I expected to be named to the team, but to be the captain is like I said, an honor.

We are all wondering about just how good will we do in this. This isn’t the World Cup where we are entering a well-established competition of many powerhouses ready to push around lower ranked opponents. Our efforts were strong there, but it is not that big of a deal. Though it is bigger then the Baptism of Fire as it is an established competition. It may equate best to the World Bowl when comparing it to the competitions in which we have attempted, and things did not go very well for us in football, as we went 1-9. We will be stronger, we have to be. This third running of the World Lacrosse Championships features fifteen teams which are split into three groups of five. You must finish in the top two of your group if you want to advance to the knockout stages which are being held in Secristan. We have been drawn into Group B, a group which features the defending champions from Taeshan. They will probably secure one of the top two spots. After them are Lovisa, Greal, and Oiseaui. We’ll be aiming for that second spot, I don’t see why we can’t. With one home and one road game against each group opponent, it promises to be an exciting tournament. I can’t wait! Our first game is in Lovisa.

Greal

04-01-2009, 23:07

Looks like its another WLC

Greal did well last year, managing to advance to the WLC quarterfinals. Lets see if we can improve that record? The Greali will be playing Taeshan today, a tough team with plenty of experience. However, that does no guarantee that Taeshan would win. Jessica Epson, team Captain says that her team will hopefully do well. There is some expectation that the Greali will qualify. Good luck to both sides today.

Secristan

05-01-2009, 23:02

RP Cutoff!

The tournament is now underway! MD1 Scores, home team on left

Group A

Myedvedeya 11-14 Newmanistan
Dancougar 15-12 The Deadly Irish

Group B

Greal 6-13 Taeshan
Lovisa 6-9 Cassadaigua

Group C

Kjomasasopia 8-15 Secristan
Kura-Pelland 12-4 Tocrowkia

Sarzonia

05-01-2009, 23:17

Sarzonia's players and coaching staff gathered at the home of backup goalie Mark Tomscik to watch the Kura-Pelland-Tocrowkia match on Tomscik's large screen television. They had a bye to open the tournament, so they decided they'd try to watch the game to see if they could pick up on some of the tendencies Kura-Pelland had.

Big mistake.

After Kura-Pelland walked off the field with an easy 12-4 win over the Reich, a couple of the younger players started whistling in disbelief.

"Damn, they look good!"

"Holy smokes!"

Harold Price, the team's head coach, looked up and saw some of the wide eyes on some of the younger players. He walked up to the center of the room.

"Men," he began. "A lot can change from game to game. Yes, Kura-Pelland look good. But that doesn't mean we can't make an impact in this tournament.

"But coach, they've taken part in both previous World Championships. This is our first!"

"This isn't like the World Cup where they have a long history of these competitions," Price countered. "We can do something in our first competition. Remember the gridball team?"

The example was enough to silence the worried. Sarzonia's debut World Bowl team advanced to the knockout stages, where it faced Qazox in the longest game in World Bowl history, losing with seven seconds left in double overtime. The team finished the qualifying bracket with a 6-3-1 record and a plus-58 point differential.

Clearly, they could do something in their first go. But the question remained, would they? That had yet to be answered.

Dancougar

06-01-2009, 00:20

There was a pleasant tweet-tweet from the trees surrounding the field. A few Dyson College students will milling around, and a few of the extremely bored wandered over to the fence at the far end of the field to watch the lacrosse teams warming up. The poor guy in the ticket booth yawned loudly and went back to his magazine.

Rick walked out onto the field and stretched his arms, trying to loosen up. It felt good to be back in full gear. He looked at the pair of bleachers behind the benches. There were a handful of people on the home side. There were just as many on the other side dressed in all green and drinking loudly from bottles of indeterminate origin. "I thought outside food and drink wasn't allowed..." Rick murmured.

"Woooo, they have good stuff!" exclaimed Roy, squinting in their direction. "Maybe we can get them to share once we're done."

"Don't rope him into more of your irresponsibility!" Lisa interrupted, putting herself in between the two. "But still, I wonder why we aren't drawing more fans. We placed last time, after all."

"That counts for a lot," said Kamjin, cracking his neck. "You know nobody cares about lacrosse outside the northeast. I bet hardly nobody in the capital even noticed there was a tournament."

"I noticed there was a tournament..." mumbled Beck, who was following the team out of the locker room with clipboard in hand. The coach's assistant was duly ignored.

"We need an icon or something," Rick mused. "You know, like that Pretty Sportsman Erika they made for the American football team."

"Oh man, that show is awesome!" cried Ben. "Everyday is fourth and ten, get stopped get..."

"Please, if you're going to sing anything, sing the third opening," said Kamjin. "That one at least has some fire to it."

Singing... huh? thought Rick. Hey, that just might do it!

**********

A drunken whoop went up from the visitor's section as Kai-Fu was beaten again. That made it 8-4, and the Wings were looking completely stunned. This team went to the semifinals?

"I don't know who these guys are..." panted Ben. "But they're deadly!"

The entire team turned their heads slowly and stared at him. "Of course, you idiot, it's in the name!" Kamjin yelled.

"Calm down, we just need to focus," Lisa said. "Let's draw up an attack and go from there. Rick, get me the ball once I'm behind the net. I'll work around it while Sterling makes a diagonal run at goal. I'll hit you when you come across the field and you should have an open shot."

"Sounds simple enough," Sterling replied. "Molly, either you or Roy should be ready to take the pass if I miss. Preferably Roy so we're not caught with too few people behind in case this breaks down."

"Good point," Lisa replied. "I don't know what it is, but I can't seem to figure out their movement. It seems completely random. I can try to predict where they'll be when I pass, but it never seems..."

"Hey..." Kamjin was almost growling. "I think we're overthinking this." He pointed to the Deadly Irish team, which was waiting for play to resume. Even from a stationary position, they were wobbling. "Those bastards... are drunk, aren't they?"

**********

The Wings went on a rampage, first going on a 6-1 run to take the lead. Rick netted a hat trick in that time and the team started to move the ball more. Quick passes and lots of off-the-ball movement were designed to disorient their opponents before going in for the kill. The Irish recovered with some fresh players and closed the gap to 12-11. But after two more goals by the Wings, they were confident the game was won.

Kai-Fu let an easy shot slip by him, and the score stood at 14-12. The Wings went for one last push. Sterling raced down the sideline with the ball and was able to sidestep one defender. Roy was sitting in the middle of the field and received a pass. A quick turn and he was bearing down on the goalie.

"Go for it!" yelled Ben. "They cannae take 'ne marr!"

"Isn't that a Scottish accent?" asked Kamjin.

"Uh... there's a difference?" Ben replied.

Roy held off one defender's charge and aimed for a gap between the goalie's left leg and the goal. The angle was getting worse as the defender pushed him away. He whipped his arm forward. The ball hit the ground hard and bounced up. The 'keeper misjudged the hop and left enough space for it to sneak past. That would do it for the scoring; the Wings had their cushion and their win.

**********

"Too bad we didn't get a better turnout," sighed Roy as the team left the ground. "Oh, well. We'll just have to get some wins and make people notice us."

"I've been thinking, maybe we have someone who can help promote the team after all," Rick said. "Although I don't know if she has the time for us."

Roy threw him a smile, as if already knowing. "Rick, what am I going to do with you?" he laughed. "If you want something from a woman, you have to be a man and take it by force!"

"Uh... isn't that a little...?" Rick choked.

"You know what I mean!" Roy replied. "Look, we've got a game and then a bye. Make sure you get it done by then!"

Taeshan

06-01-2009, 05:22

Falcons Defeat Greal Team Thirteen to Six

In the opening game of the third World Lacrosse Championships the defending champion Taeshan Flaming Falcons easily handled there Greali foes on there home turf thirteen. The Falcons led by team Captains Rowan Qwarant, and Seth Thatcher handily won the game and outscored the Grealis in every single class. And they easily one the first, and most important game if you want to get of on the right foot.

Greg Fornfelt kept the Greali offense shots out twenty out twenty six times. The defense was able to stop most attacks where they started. At halftime it was 7-3 Falcons. Qwarant scored 3 first half goals, Thatcher added 2 more Piers Fohneger added two of his own. In the second half the Grealis started to come back and it wa 6.-7, but the Falcons kept them scoreless from then on. Qwarant would add 2 more goals, as would Thatcher, Fohneger had one more and middie William Kelly scored a late goal to make the final score thriteen to six.

Newmanistan

06-01-2009, 05:57

THE ROCKET REPORT

ROAD BACK TO THE TOP BEGINS

Myedvedeya- Playing lacrosse on a snow covered field in frigid temperatures is never a fun things to do, but Prince Michael had his team more then prepared for the elements as they opened up the 3rd World Lacrosse Championships with a 14-11 victory over the home nation. Myedvedeya proved to be a pretty game opponent on this night, but in the end the Bears had to deal with too much Rocket power. They are to be commended for keeping it close, even though the Rockets seemed to be in control of the match for most of it.

It wasn’t a sold out crowd, but a loud contingent of both human and ursine supporters were on hand to see if their home team could pull off the upset. The stadium roared with cheers as Myedvedeya scored the first two goals of the match in a four minute span. But they were soon to realize that while that is a terrific start in football, in lacrosse, there is still plenty of work to do. Newmanistan did need some time to get comfortable with middie Kyle Foster seeming to have the toughest time in the beginning. Errant passes on the Rockets first three possessions by Foster helped the Bears score early and make Prince Michael worry a little bit about his team. The Rockets played better towards the end of the first quarter to salvage only a 4-3 deficit with Myedvedeya over that time. During the second quarter, a chat by the Prince to his players seemed to do the trick. Newmanistan scored the first four goals of the quarter to open up a three goal cushion. Jason Green was particularly strong along the left wing as the Myedvedeyan defense looked to cover the Capital Connection of Taylor and Farrell a little more. Three of these four goals were as a result of Taylor timing a pass just right to Green as he made a charge on goal, leaving the home team’s goalie helpless. At the end of the first half, with the Empire leading it 8-5, and with the appearance of beginning to put this game away.

Prince Michael during his halftime talk was quite confident, feeling that his team was going to continue to draw away further in the second half. In doing this, he may have underestimated the Bears a little bit, because when the third quarter began it looked at like the start of the game did. Whatever they said in the home locker room must have worked, as Myedvedeya rallied to tie the game back up at eight. The Rockets again were a little sloppy during this stretch, perhaps falling victim to something has plagued them at times in the past, and that is trying to be too cute with the ball and score highlight reel goals on dazzling plays instead of just making the simple pass. Again, Foster seemed to be the one who was off his game, and with five minutes left in the third and the score still 8-8, Prince Michael made a pretty bold move and pulled the captain off the field and replaced him with 19-year old Steve Harrington, who is making his national team debut. Foster did not return to the match, and camera angles showed the middie not looking too pleased about it. Meanwhile, Harrington was making the most of his opportunity, assisting on a score by Curt Farrell within a minute of entering. At the end of the third, Newmanistan was up by the score of 10-8. Myedvedeya played a strong game tonight, but each time they looked as though they might pull off the victory, the Rockets were able to dig down and get a timely goal to send the message that they were still the team to beat. The late third quarter goals were a testament to that, and then an early fourth quarter goal by Matt Knight put the Rockets up by three. The Bears battled, but they could not keep the Rockets from getting one more goal to remain ahead, and by the end of the game, Newmanistan would hold on to a 14-11 victory. Myedvedeya is to be credited for their effort, as they have always been known to field teams that play hard, but on this night, beating Newmanistan would be too much to ask. The Rockets will remain on the road to take on The Deadly Irish, another nation who as an underdog put up a game fight to their favored opponent, but was ultimately outclassed.

Secristan

06-01-2009, 10:30

VICTORIOUS OPENING

The Millionaires easily disposed of Kjomasasopia in the first game of the World Lacrosse Championships, defeating the nation by the score of 15-8. These are countries that haven’t always gotten along, as in the Baptism of Fire, the press of Kjomasasopia had some derogatory comments to say about our fine athletes, and were apparently quite jealous as to their wealth. Recently, Kjomasasopia has had run-ins with other international organizations and decided to pull out of the World Cup. They did not, however, pull out of the World Lacrosse Championships, but many believe that this was probably just an oversight on their part. After this beatdown, they are probably wishing that they did. Secristan scored six goals in the first quarter, four of which were by Scott Cushman. In fact, Cushman was simply unstoppable in this game, having eight of the fifteen goals in total. The Millionaires led 6-1 after the first quarter and 10-3 at halftime. In the second half, coach Cameron opted to play the reserves, and even they played level with the Kjomasasopia starters. The final score of 15-8 could have been even larger had the Millionaires kept all their starters in. Also somewhat embarassing was the announced crowd of 326 to attend the game in Kjomasasopia. We would imagine nearly all of them were friends and family of the players.

In other Group C action, Kura-Pelland defeated Tocrowkia rather easily by the score of 12-4. Most are predicting Secristan and Kura-Pelland to advance out of the group even though the Sarzonia team may be a sleeper. In Group B, defending champion Taeshan defeated Greal 13-6, using a late six-goal run to finish off that game, and Cassadaigua won their debut over Lovisa 9-6. In Group A, One Big Island rival Newmanistan and World Bowl rival Dancougar each had closer matches then they may have wanted, but both picked up victories in the end. Newmanistan over Myedvedeya, 14-11 and Dancougar over The Deadly Irish, 15-12.

Secristan

07-01-2009, 00:05

MD2 Cutoff & Scores
I will post tables after tomorrow's results.

Group A

The Deadly Irish 8-14 Newmanistan
Colbourne 9-17 Dancougar

Group B

Cassadaigua 7-13 Taeshan
Oiseaui 14-8 Lovisa

Group C

Tocrowkia 9-13 Secristan
Sarzonia 15-11 Kura-Pelland

Sarzonia

07-01-2009, 00:25

Portland Press-Herald

Slash rallies to defeat K-P, 15-11

By Larry Bridger
Press-Herald Staff Writer

WOODSTOCK -- If the Sarzonian men's lacrosse team needed a sign that it shouldn't be awed over the success of Kura-Pelland in the past, nor its 12-4 smackdown of Tocrowkia on Matchday 1, they found it in their opening game against the hosts of the inaugural World Lacrosse Championship.

Attackman Tim Cole scored five goals, Nate Longley added a hat trick and Sarzonia rallied from a 9-6 halftime deficit to defeat Kura Pelland 15-11 in front of a surprisingly large crowd of 17,856 at the Chip Moose Lacrosse Stadium in Woodstock.

"We just needed to get ourselves back on track after that first half," said Coach Harold Price. "Once we figured out the adjustments we needed to make, we were much better in the second half."

Sarzonia (1-0) got off to a rocky start in the first quarter as Kura-Pelland took advantage of a sluggish defence when defenceman Tom Swensen couldn't keep up with Kura-Pelland's top attackman. He scored the first two goals just one minute, six seconds in, leaving the Slash talking to itself and the fans stunned.

It was 4-1 at the end of the first quarter when Price could be seen yelling at his defence.

"I told them they were either standing around, which happened on the first two goals, or they were trying to get into position too fast," Price said. "Basically, they needed to settle down."

The defence didn't get that message, however. Kura-Pelland scored five more times in the second quarter, although the Slash answered with five goals of their own to go into the locker room down three. When the Slash returned to start the second half, they did so with a new goalie, as Mark Tomscik spelled Craig Larrabie.

"It wasn't Craig's fault," Price said. "Craiger will start the next match away to Secristan. But I had to do something to give the team a spark."

It didn't immediately work. Kura-Pelland was held off the scoreboard for the first six minutes of the third quarter, but Sarzonia could only score once before Kura-Pelland answered on the power play. However, after midfielder Pat Wade returned from the penalty box, the Slash turned up the dial. Sarzonia scored the final three goals of the quarter to go into the fourth quarter with the score 10-10.

In the fourth, Sarzonia's attackmen finally found the range consistently, scoring five times in the period to pull out the 15-11 victory.

"I don't know what it was, to be honest," Cole said. "We just seemed to figure it out in the fourth quarter and some of the shots that were going high and wide were going into the net."

Sarzonia battles Secristan in the first away match for the Slash of the tournament. Price said the team would have a tough battle, but said it was important to get the first match out of the way.

"Now we see we can play a little lacrosse," Price said. "That'll help the younger lads, especially. We still have a tough road to travel, but we believe we can do good things now. We just have to make sure we do everything we need to for that to happen."

Newmanistan

07-01-2009, 12:01

THE ROCKET REPORT

IRISH NOT THAT DEADLY

The Deadly Irish- With very little difficulty, the Rockets cruised to their second victory in the World Lacrosse Championships by putting the home team, the Deadly Irish, away early and never letting them recover. Since the Irish played Dancougar tough in their first game, Prince Michael made it a point that the home team should not even be able to think of the possibility of an upset in this match. The 14-8 win gives Newmanistan a 2-0 record, and they are tied with their familiar adversary for the top spot in Group A, who trounced Colbourne on the road.

The announced crowd for the match was a little disappointing as we are not sure if too many people in The Deadly Irish are aware that the competition has actually begun, and with many traveling Newmanistanians in attendance, it actually sounded like the game was in Newmanistan. The players seemed to get a kick out of that, and after a while began to celebrate after goals more like would at home then if they were on the road. This would probably be considered insulting to the home nation, but we don’t know if any of them were actually watching. A goal for Prince Michael in this match was to get Kyle Foster going since he had a rather poor outing in the opener against Myedvedeya. Foster is too good for it to be an extended slump, and the goal was to get him many touches for him to quickly regain his confidence. This worked out well. The poor passes that he made in the Myedvedeya were cut down in a big way, and he would have assists on three of the Rockets first five goals. Of those five scores, four were in the first quarter as Newmanistan quickly asserted itself. Keith Taylor scored twice, and the defense would only allow goal to build a nice 4-1 lead. The pressure continued in the second quarter, with Taylor and Curt Farrell, showing just why they are better known when referred to as the Capital Connection. Taylor quickly completed his hat trick early, and Farrell would also have three by halftime as the Rockets continued an offense focus, opening up a 9-3 advantage at halftime. They went to the locker to a standing ovation, as the road supporters continued to want to show up the home fans.

With everything going so smoothly, there wouldn’t be any reason to change anything up at halftime. The gap in class between the teams was clearly apparent, and whatever the Irish may have done to give the Black Wings fits clearly wasn’t working out here. The Prince thought about giving his starters the rest of the game off, but decided not too. They would play the third quarter as well just to continue to drive home the point to the home team that there would only be one outcome tonight. When the players returned to the field, they found that many of the home supporters had already gone home, and now it was definitely as if the team was playing in the Empire. Foster and Matt Knight got Jason Green into the game a little more in this stanza, allowing him also to complete a hat trick. At that point, Prince Michael felt that enough was enough. The starters weren’t going to gain anything by continuing to be out there and running up the score, which stood at 12-4 midway through the third period when they were pulled. Out they want, including goalie Jason Copeland. The Deadly Irish got two back to end the third quarter to make it 12-6, but it simply didn’t matter at this point. The fourth quarter simply was played out after Newmanistan got the first two goals, including the first international score by 19-year old Kyle Williams, to make it 14-6. The Irish had long since thrown in the towel on the match, and even though they would finish it off with two goals, this outcome had long since been decided, the only question was what would be the final score. Well, that score would be 14-8.

With the victory, Newmanistan is 2-0 and will have their first home game of the World Lacrosse Championships coming up against Colbourne and then they will remain home for the only group stage opponent that looks as though they will have something for the Rockets, that being our ol’ friends from Dancougar, before they finish off the first half with a bye. We mentioned the Dancougar score previously as they routed Colbourne 17-9. In group B, Taeshan continues to look terrific by knocking off Cassadaigua 13-7, and Oiseaui won their debut over Lovisa 14-8. Group C saw Secristan take care of business against Tocrowkia 13-9, and in an the most exciting match of the day, Sarzonia won their debut by ralling from a 9-6 halftime deficit to defeat favored Kura-Pelland by the score of 15-11.

Cassadaigua

07-01-2009, 14:21

Ashley’s Blog

Two games into the World Lacrosse Championships, we have a record of one win and one loss. Starting with a victory against Lovisa on the road before we fell to defending champion Taeshan in our home opener by the score of 13-7. Starting with the victory first, it was good to know that we could compete with one of the better nations right at the start. Even though they are not at Taeshan’s level, Lovisa has usually been a steady foe that participates in most competitions. We began with a defense first approach and shut down their top scoring threats in the first half especially, allowing just two goals in the first half. With the 5-2 lead at halftime, our confidence was pretty strong. I was happy with my game as the Lovisan defense wasn’t a lot better then what we have seen at home. They were good, but not intimidating. I’m told that I had three assists in the first half, so even though I hadn’t scored I was still productive. Of course it was thrill to finally find the back of the net as I did early in the third quarter. I made sure to keep that ball, and it will be in my trophy case forever. We held on for a 9-6 victory against Lovisa, generating confidence. Sadly, this could not carry over into the game against Taeshan. They are the defending champions, and they were out to show us why and spoil our home debut. Their midfield was strong, and our defense had a tough time containing Rowan Qwarant, who scored four of Taeshan’s eight first half goals. The Flaming Falcons kind of put us away early, leading 8-3 at halftime. We never really got in the game after that. I scored twice in the second half, to get a hat trick on the day but it didn’t really matter at that point. Taeshan was relentless and they played a great game and they will be tough for anyone to beat.

Despite the loss, we still will hold hope that we can finish second in the group and make the knockouts. Our next game will go a long way as we are in Greal. I guess they were the country that was favored by most to finish behind Taeshan in the group. They have only played once, and that was to Taeshan, and they were defeated by nearly the same score we lost by, losing it 13-6. They are coming off their bye, something that we will have after this match.

Dancougar

07-01-2009, 20:02

"I can't believe they're making us expense this. This is stupid." The other passengers grabbing their luggage at the Colbourne airport shuffled uncomfortably away from Kamjin, who was still fuming that no funds had been set aside to travel to the first away game. The players and staff had had to pay for the flight and would be reimbursed later once funding from the football team was set aside for them. Beck had gotten the Sports Ministry to promise that cash would be available as soon as possible, because this was a real hit for most of the players.

"Just calm down, security is jumpy these days," Layla said. Indeed, with the ruckus he'd raised back in Dancougar, they were lucky to even get him on the plane. "Look, just take it out on somebody in the game, all right? We need to give Newmanistan something to worry about."

"Heh, you always say the right things!" Kamjin laughed, giving her a hearty pat on the back. She would've blushed except Kamjin put a lot into it, so she sputtered a bit as he walked past. She grabbed her bag and followed as the team made its way to the charter bus that was waiting to take them to the field.

"So Rick, any progress?" asked Roy, tossing his bag aside.

"Well, I haven't asked yet..." Rick began.

"Asked about what?" asked Lisa, dropping into the seat behind Rick. "Don't tell me Roy's roped you into more of his mischief."

"Actually, Rick thinks he might have a way to get the team some exposure," Roy replied. "We're, like, eighth fiddle in this country or something ridiculous, so we've got precisely nothing going for us."

"Uh huh," Lisa said, leaning over the seat. "So what's this great idea of yours, then?"

"It's not really that great or anything..." Rick fumbled. "I just figured that... May is kind of a star now, and..."

"What's that I hear?" Kai-Fu bellowed from the front of the bus. "I already told you I don't care much for your scheming, Rick, especially not if it involves my sister."

"Hey, you're not even listening to him," returned Roy. "Look, word's going to get out that her brother is our goalie. But that isn't going to hold people's interest. Now, if she was actively promoting us on her tour, then we'd have something."

"May's got plenty to worry about without us getting in her way," Kai-Fu replied.

"I want to ask her anyway," Rick said. "It doesn't hurt to just ask, right?"

Kai-Fu stared at him and then turned back around to face the front of the bus. "Fine, fine," he replied, "but make sure all you ask her about is the promotion. Got it?"

Lisa sat down and stared out the window at the Colbourne scenery. Always thinking of that May, isn't he...?

**********

Goal! Rick's shot had burned past two defenders and the goalie to give the Wings a commanding 6-1 lead. Sterling had helped set up the play after scooping up an errant Colbourne pass in the midfield. In a flash, he'd run it up into space. He could've squared it to Ben, but that would've been an easy turnover. He saw Rick get free and sent in a hard pass which Rick corralled. A quick turn and a shot resulted had given them a five-goal edge.

Coach Worldly watched from the bench with a smile. "It looks like they're playing with a lot more vigor," he said.

"They've been able to produce tactical mismatches all over the field," replied Beck Sedol, whipping out a small whiteboard. "By overloading the right side with Sterling, Roy, and Rick, Colbourne is being forced to overcommit its defense. When they can't break through, they're able to find Molly or Lisa wide open on the far side. Defensively, Kamjin's been stellar in the middle." There was an Ooooooo from the crowd as Kamjin destroyed another Colbourne attacker, who went flying into Spacy Redshirt, sending them both to the turf. The referee blew for a foul. "Although he could stand to tone it down."

The Wings ran it up to 10-3 by halftime, and the Colbourne crowd was vocal in its displeasure. For the Wings, though, this was a game they needed to play well. A week off was the precursor to the game with Newmanistan, one of the best teams in the world. Nobody had to tell them that the two nations had a spirited sporting rivalry, basketball excluded.

In the second half, Rick quickly added two more goals to his total before Colbourne finally started to establish some offense. Worldly had been forced to sit Kamjin or risk him earning harsher penalties for his play, and while Layla was able to step into the middle of the defense, she wasn't as imposing as Kamjin. Colbourne closed the gap to 12-7, but then the ladies hooked up for a pair of goals, with Molly feeding Lisa for a brace. There was just no coming back from that deficit; a 17-9 Black Wing victory wouldn't scare the Rockets in the least, but it would give them some confidence.

Taeshan

07-01-2009, 21:20

Flaming Falcons Easily Handle Cassadaigua

Next up for the Falcons was the team from Cassadaigua. The young team had already beaten the Lovisans in the first game, and were ready to start there home record off with a good game, but the Falcons came in and crushed them by one less point then greal 13-7. It was never even close as at halftime it was already 8-3 and the Falcons were all over the scoreboard.

In th efirst half star player Rowan Qwarant found the net four times, and Seth Thatcher twice as did William Kelly. In the second half the Casans came back to make it 8-7, but then the Knights went on a tear. Backup attacker Jack Smith inf for some of the second half minutes scored twice. The other 3 goals were scored by Qwarant, Thatcher, and Kelly.

Secristan

07-01-2009, 23:37

Due to real life issues, scorination will be delayed until after midnight, but it will still happen.

Greal

07-01-2009, 23:44

Team lineup

"We'll be playing Cassadaigua today guys" said Jesscia Epson, the team captain

"I wished we played yesterday." said James

"I do too James, but now we're here, and lets play our best okay guys?"

"Yes Captain." chanted the team.

"Lets teach them what a Greali team can do."

"Yes Captain" Chanted the team again.

"We need a title, a victory, to convince everyone back home we're still viable."

"We are, we got to the quarterfinals last year."

"It'll be harder then last year. Lets go make history."

"History?"

"Sports history."

Sarzonia

07-01-2009, 23:51

Due to real life issues, scorination will be delayed until after midnight, but it will still happen.

OOC: Good luck getting your RL issues taken care of. I hope things turn out for the best for you.

Secristan

08-01-2009, 04:45

RP Cutoff! (Thanks everyone for the patience)

Group A

Newmanistan 13-7 Colbourne
Myedvedya 7-12 The Deadly Irish

Pos Group A P W L GF GA GD
1 Newmanistan 3 3 0 41 26 15
2 Dancougar 2 2 0 32 21 11
3 The Deadly Irish 3 1 2 32 36 -4
4 Myedvedeya 2 0 2 18 26 -8
5 Colbourne 2 0 2 16 30 -14

Group B

Taeshan 13-6 Oiseaui
Greal 17-15 Cassadaigua

Pos Group B P W L GF GA GD
1 Taeshan 3 3 0 39 19 20
2 Oiseaui 2 1 1 20 21 -1
3 Greal 2 1 1 23 28 -5
4 Cassadaigua 3 1 2 31 36 -5
5 Lovisa 2 0 2 14 23 -9

Group C

Secristan 10-11 (OT) Sarzonia
Kjomasasopia 10-9 Tocrowkia

Pos Group C P W L GF GA GD
1 Sarzonia 2 2 0 26 21 5
2 Secristan 3 2 1 38 28 10
3 Kura-Pelland 2 1 1 23 19 4
4 Kjomasasopia 2 1 1 18 24 -6
5 Tocrowkia 3 0 3 22 35 -13

Sarzonia

08-01-2009, 05:39

Carter Whitlock was having the worst game of his life.

The Sarzonian midfielder committed two major defensive lapses that directly led to Secristani goals. The home crowd in Secristan started chanting his name in a mocking tone. That is, when they weren't jingling coins.

Whitlock could feel Coach Harold Price's piercing scowl lay down its gauntlet on him for the entire second half as Sarzonia trailed pretty much the entire way. However, he would redeem himself in a huge way in the final minute, 11 seconds of regulation.

He stole an outlet pass attempt from veteran Secristani goaltender Eric Hutchinson, faked a pass to attackman Tim Cole, then fired a shot Hutchinson couldn't get to in time. The goal tied the score at 10 and forced overtime. Whitlock glanced toward Price, whose arms remained crossed in his customary coach's pose.

He made it a point to be ready for the faceoff, which Price signaled he wanted Whitlock to take.

I never take faceoffs, Whitlock thought. What does he want from me?

Whitlock took -- and won -- the rare faceoff and passed to Dwayne Dyer after the latter midfielder ran on as a substitute. Whitlock looked to make a decoy run in an effort to set up a shot for Nate Longley, but Dyer saw something. Dyer then whipped the ball to Whitlock, who caught the ball and fired with one motion toward the net. Hutchinson couldn't react in time. With three minutes, nine seconds expired in the overtime session, Sarzonia rallied all the way from 10-5 down early in the fourth quarter to post an 11-10 victory over a stunned Secristani team and a silenced crowd.

Before he knew it, Whitlock was surrounded by deliriously happy teammates. Before he felt the weight of celebration crashing him to earth, he saw Price's arms jolt up from being folded across his chest to a position high in the air in celebration. More importantly, he finally saw Price do something he hadn't seen since the night of the Kura-Pelland match: Smile.

The win improved Sarzonia's record to 2-0, a half game ahead of the Millionaires and a full game ahead of Kura-Pelland in the tough Group C. Sarzonia would awaken the next morning to find itself in first place in its group with matches against the two lower ranked teams in the offing.

Sarzonia's next match would be against the eerily silent Kjomasasopia, but for one night, the next opponent didn't matter one bit. For tonight, the Slash could celebrate a dramatic away win against one of teams expected to challenge for the World Lacrosse Championship title.

Whitlock was having the worst game of his life. Now he could say he had the best game of his life.

Newmanistan

08-01-2009, 21:22

THE ROCKET REPORT

ROCKETS BRUSH ASIDE COLBOURNE

Pocono City, Newmanistan- After getting hammered by Dancougar, Colbourne attempted to bounce back in Pocono City. Sadly for them, at Newmanistan isn’t usually the place you can get your lacrosse mojo back. There were some fans that wanted to see just how badly that the Rockets could defeat this opponent in what was the home opener for Newmanistan, but laying the smack down on Colbourne wasn’t totally on Prince Michael’s agenda. Playing a conservative game to get through and perhaps use as a glorified practice session for their next match against Dancougar. The Black Wings appear to be the only threat to us during the group stage.

Colbourne scoring the game’s first goal off the opening faceoff was all it took to get Rockets to concern themselves more with defense. We haven’t spent a lot of time talking about the back end in these reports, but they have played very well. Chris Mattison and Michael Leahey have been fantastic, and Leahey especially seemed to take their first goal to heart, as on the next three possessions of the visitors, it was Leahey that forced a turnover. Initially, the Colbourne goalie got off to a terrific start, and with Newmanistan only able to find the back of the net twice, one by Kyle Foster and the other by Michael Kinser, the slim 2-1 first quarter lead had some wondering if this was going to be one of those classic “trap” games. Not to worry, as in the second quarter, the Rockets began to solve the Colbourne keeper and the Capital Connection would heat up. Two scores by Keith Taylor and one by Curt Farrell led the way for a six-goal second quarter. Colbourne was able to manage three of their own, but with the Rockets finding their groove, the home fans here in Pocono City were now confident that the team would take care of business. Up 7-4 at the half may seem slim to some, but with some momentum beginning to build, things were looking up. The team actually had a great first half, and a lot of credit simply needs to go to the Colbourne goalie who kept his team in it in first quarter. Surely, he had a little something to try and prove tonight.

Prince Michael wasn’t worried about the score at halftime. He was aware that the team had been asserting itself quite well, and as long as they came out with the same intensity in the second half that everything should be fine. Nothing more then this simple message was needed, and when the third quarter began, you could see that the Rockets were going to trying and get a little more breathing room for themselves. Again, the Colbourne goalie was sharp, and he seemed to have an especially good ability to read what Curt Farrell was trying to do. The team made the necessary adjustment, and started to use Farrell more as a set up player, and cycled in the likes of Matt Knight in front of the net quite often. Knight would be on the receiving of two goals in the third quarter, two of the three in which Newmanistan would get during this period. On the other end, the defense was stout, allowing just one goal, a score that really should have been disallowed, but the Rockets didn’t make too much of a fuss about it. They already were up comfortably and entered the final quarter with a 10-5 lead. Their could have been time for Colbourne to make a comeback if they were so inclined, but Newmanistan scoring the first two goals of the fourth quarter in a span of two minutes completely erased any thoughts that they would have had of rallying for a dramatic victory. Now up 12-5, the rest of the match seemed to just be played out as the Rockets held on to what would ultimately be a 13-7 victory.

Up next is the match that Rockets will need in the group stage. Let’s face it, none of these opponents have really put too much of a test in the team. Sure, Myedvedeya was good at times in that encounter but it will be good to see how the team stacks up against one of the best in the group stage before they start running into the stronger teams in the knockout stages. Dancougar, who has also cruised in their first two matches, may just be thinking the same thing. They finished 3rd overall last time out, but really all you need to say is Newmanistan vs Dancougar in order to get those juices flowing. The game will be played in Tundra Falls and then they will have a bye. Following the bye they go to Colbourne and have their second bye. Elsewhere in the World Lacrosse Championships, The Deadly Irish defeated Myedvedeya here in group A, 12-7. Taeshan remains very consistent in Group B with their third straight game scoring 13 goals, this a 13-6 win over Oiseaui, and in a wild one, Greal outshot Cassadaigua in a classic shootout by the score of 17-15. Group C saw Kjomasasopia edge Tocrowkia 10-9 but the great game here was an overtime thriller that saw Sarzonia win in Secristan, 11-10. The Slash had trailed in that game 10-5 before stunning the Millionaires.

Dancougar

08-01-2009, 22:32

"Psssh, Tundra Falls. Don't get what it is about this place that has everybody so spooked," spat Kamjin as the team lined up to enter the stadium. The lacrosse facilities at Tundra Falls could compete with the most lavish facilities on the site - the football stadium, the F1 garages, and even the basketball courts. Everything here was first class, as Newmanistan looked after its own.

A chill ran down Rick's spine. Whatever Kamjin said, there was something weird about the air here. Even the random people and the fans milling about the place seemed to exude confidence. All of Newmanistan's best played here, no matter the sport. "Spirits, they said..." he murmured. "I don't know about spirits, but this place is incredible. Sure beats the heck out of home."

"I know, right?" Roy laughed. "Man, I bet they have running water here."

Coach Worldly followed the team inside and was flanked by Beck and Samantha. "So, what would you say are our chances of winning?" he asked.

Beck pulled out a calculator. "Let's see... on the road against one of the world's top three teams, with a lineup as experienced as ours... and the crowd being both large and hostile... I'd put it at maybe one percent."

"Oh dear... I'm not sure if I should call that dismal or generous," said Worldly.

"If there are really spirits inhabiting the grounds, I'd say the chance drops to near zero," Beck continued. "I personally believe that the effect is merely psychological, but given the result of the football match contested between our two nations and their subsequent form in World Cup qualifying... one must conclude that the effect, however it arises, is real."

"What's our strategy, then?" asked Worldly. "Do we run a bunch of our trick formations and hope to catch them off guard?"

"I'm doubtful that will work," replied Beck. "The lacrosse team is given expansive resources with which to contest the world championship, and game tape of our previous games has no doubt reached them. Our best plan of attack is to stick to simplicity. We must avoid beating ourselves if we want to even have a chance to beat them."

Greal

08-01-2009, 23:09

Lacrosse report
Greal 17-15 Cassadaigua

That was a bloody close game. 17-15. Cassadaigua was very tricky and it took many goals to bring it down. Jessica Epson said she was proud of her team's performance, and now they were going up against Oiseaui, a unknown nation of unknown quality, though they did have a fair start to the World Lacrosse Championships. All we known is that Oiseaui will be like every other team, tough and formidable. Yesterday's match generated more viewers on Greali television then any other day.

Secristan

08-01-2009, 23:44

MD4 RP Cutoff!

Group A

Newmanistan 14-12 Dancougar
Colbourne 9-10 (OT) Myedvedeya

Pos Group A P W L GF GA GD
1 Newmanistan 4 4 0 55 38 17
2 Dancougar 3 2 1 44 35 9
3 The Deadly Irish 3 1 2 32 36 -4
4 Myedvedeya 3 1 2 28 35 -7
5 Colbourne 3 0 3 25 40 -15

Group B

Taeshan 14-7 Lovisa
Oiseaui 10-15 Greal

Pos Group B P W L GF GA GD
1 Taeshan 4 4 0 53 26 27
2 Greal 3 2 1 38 38 0
3 Cassadaigua 3 1 2 31 36 -5
4 Oiseaui 3 1 2 30 36 -6
5 Lovisa 3 0 3 21 37 -16

Group C

Secristan 15-12 Kura-Pelland
Sarzonia 16-6 Kjomasasopia

Pos Group C P W L GF GA GD
1 Sarzonia 3 3 0 42 27 15
2 Secristan 4 3 1 53 40 13
3 Kura-Pelland 3 1 2 35 34 1
4 Kjomasasopia 3 1 2 24 40 -16
5 Tocrowkia 3 0 3 22 35 -13

Sarzonia

09-01-2009, 00:02

Portland Press-Herald

Slash carves up Kjomasasopia 16-6

By Larry Bridger
Press-Herald Staff Writer

WOODSTOCK -- After Sarzonia started the third World Lacrosse Championship by facing the two teams in Group C expected to contend for the championship, the Slash caught a break when they faced Kjomasasopia, a team that one prognosticator predicted would finish the group stage winless.

Even though Kjomasassopia won its match against Tocrowkia, the visitors had no such luck against Sarzonia. The Slash dominated the game from opening faceoff to final whistle, winning 16-6 in front of a crowd of 11,846 at the Chip Moose Lacrosse Stadium.

"We knew we had a tough pair of matches to start the tournament," said coach Harold Price. "Our biggest challenge before this match was to ensure that we didn't lose our concentration against a team we were expected to walk over. I'm pleased we were able to do that to a certain extent."

Unlike the first two matches that forced the Slash (3-0, first place Group C) to come from behind, Sarzonia jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first quarter behind a natural hat trick from attackman Tim Cole. After Cole scored the first three goals of the match en route to the big lead, Kjomasasopia scored one to end the first quarter with Sarzonia up three.

The second quarter proved to be more of the same, as Sarzonia netted three goals in rapid succession to start the second period before Kjomasasopia scored two goals to make the score 7-3 with eight minutes, nine seconds remaining before halftime. That's when attackman Nate Longley went to work, scoring the next goal and assisting on Cole's fourth goal of the game, which put Sarzonia ahead 9-3 at halftime.

"We just focused well out there," Cole said. "Except for a few rough patches here and there, we played the kind of match we wanted to against Kjomasasopia."

Kjomasasopia scored two of the next three goals to start the third quarter, bringing them to within 10-5 before Kjomasasopia called a timeout due to an injured player. When action resumed, so did Sarzonia's dominance. The Slash scored the next three goals, and only a fluke goal at the end of the third quarter kept Kjomasasopia within seven goals at the end of the third quarter.

"We lost concentration a little bit out there," said midfielder Pat Wade. "Those little lapses will cost us against a team like Secristan or Kura-Pelland. We can't afford them."

They didn't have any such lapses in the fourth quarter. Three more goals without answer by the Slash left them ahead of the Millionaires by a half game in the Group C standings. The Millionaires have their bye while Sarzonia plays winless Tocrowkia away. However, Price warned against being complacent.

"They're here, aren't they," he asked when Tocrowkia's 0-3 record was mentioned. "We can't afford to sleep on anyone in this tournament. Not with Secristan coming to Woodstock right afterward. We want to make sure we don't look past Tocrowkia for that Secristan match."

Taeshan

09-01-2009, 00:02

Flaming Falcons Beat Oiseaui and Lovisa

Two more games, and two more wins. The Flaming Falcons are walking through the first round of the 3rd Woprld Lacrosse Championship. They have won every game by at least six goals and have not let more then seven a game. In fact they have outscored there oponents 43-26. They are easily defeating everyone, and know they have an extralong mid group play break as they know have the bye.

The Falcons easily manhandled the Lovisans, an Osi's in both games. In those two game alond they outscored them 27-13. Rowan Qwarant alone, who scorede 14 points in the two games, outscored them. Seth Thatcher contributed five more. William Kelly had 3, Piers Fohneger had two, and Ollie richenham scored a goal. The Falcons are easily winning and hopefully this trend will continue for a long time.

Newmanistan

09-01-2009, 04:52

THE ROCKET REPORT

ROCKETS COMPLETE PERFECT FIRST HALF

Tundra Falls, Newmanistan- The last time international lacrosse was played at the Proving Grounds, the Rockets players had the displeasure of watching Taeshan celebrate winning the 2nd World Lacrosse Championship. Now the spirits had to make up for allowing that to happen as Newmanistan took on their biggest group threat, the all-too familiar Dancougar Black Wings. The history between the nations is becoming storied, starting in the World’s football where the countries have had rather equal success against the other despite the Black Wings being the #3 ranked team in the World. In gridiron, it’s been one-sided in favor of Dancougar even though nearly all games have come to the very end. Now with the lacrosse history starting, Newmanistan seeks to return the gridiron favor. At the Proving Grounds, Dancougar put up a good fight and they remain a contender, but a 2-goal margin of victory by the Rockets, 14-12, shows that while they are good, perhaps they need more to be a champion.

The start of the match was quite intense with some hard hitting and tough defense. Right away it was clear that both wanted to make a statement against the other. Newmanistan was able to jump out to an early 2-0 lead on two scores by Matt Knight as he was able to overpower Sally LaClaudia rather easily. The Rockets tried to set up this matchup as much as they could with smooth cycling in the offensive zone while knowing that the Black Wings would likely put there two more physical defenders on the Capital Connection, Curt Farrell and Keith Taylor. Jason Green also benefitted from this a little bit, too, as he was also able to score twice in the first quarter. Offensively, the Black Wings were able to keep pace, as the Rockets had to defend what is known as the “Daedalus Attack”. Dancougar went to this formation many times early on in the match, and scored three goals off of it, which were evenly distributed between three of their forwards. After the first then, Newmanistan had a 4-3 lead. In the second quarter, Dancougar briefly had a run of momentum, scoring three goals to take a 6-4 lead, the first time in the competition that Newmanistan had been trailing by more then two goals. They abandoned Daedalus a bit, and went to a more conventional attack, with Roy de Havilland rising up and scoring all three of them as he looked to be the go-to guy of the team. Prince Michael demanded that his team play more physical, with more of an in your face type defense after falling back into the zone that they had done at the start of the quarter. The Rockets came back for three goals in the quarter, with the Black Wings getting one more, giving us a 7-7 tie at halftime. Curt Farrell and Keith Taylor each finally got on the scoreboard, each getting a goal.

Prince Michael during intermission continued to send the message of playing stronger defense. Without question, Dancougar was the best offensive team they had faced, and they seemed to be getting some quality shots on Jason Copeland, much better then should be allowed. He was generally confident that the team would be able to score. Unfortunately, he just did not get the results he wanted as the third quarter began. The Black Wings still were able to find holes in the Newmanistan defense, and thus were able to score goals. It led to a pretty entertaining quarter that saw each team score four times, each answering the score by the other to where no team ever led by more then one in the quarter. Jason Green began to emerge as the top scorer for the Rockets, getting three of these four goals, with Kyle Foster, who had been held in check pretty well by the Dancougar midfield, finally getting his first of the game. Heading into the fourth quarter, we were all tied up at 11. Here though, is where the Rockets would rise up to the occasion. The defense got better, but especially impressive was the goalie Jason Copeland. The Black Wings still got some good shot attempts off, but Copeland knew that if the team was going to win that he needed to come up big, and he was. Meanwhile, Newmanistan was generating some offense and even though Kai-Fu Linn was doing his part as well, scores by Taylor and Farrell in the first five minutes of the quarter gave the Rockets a bit of comfort zone. Dancougar closed to 13-12 with 2:09 to play, but a quick response 25 seconds later by Kyle Foster put the game to bed. Dancougar could not recover and have been handed their first loss of the group stage.

With the win, Newmanistan completes a perfect first half of group play, and will now enjoy a bye day. The other Group A match saw Myedvedeya nip Colbourne in overtime by the score of 10-9 as the rest of the group fights for the pointless third place. In Group B, Taeshan continues to breeze through the competition, easily defeating Lovisa 14-7, sending the Lovisans to a surprising 0-3 start. We thought they would be better then that. Also, Greal defeated Oiseaui 15-10. Then in Group C, Sarzonia destroyed Kjomasasopia, continuing to send a message to the world that they are for real, winning the match 16-6, while Secristan defeated Kura-Pelland in a pretty important match, by the score of 15-12.

Secristan

09-01-2009, 06:31

MILLIONAIRES HOLD ON FOR BIG WIN

After an unspeakable collapse, the Millionaires responded against Kura-Pelland, getting an important 15-12 victory as the team still tries to recover from what happened against Sarzonia. How do you blow a 10-5 lead in the fourth quarter at home? This is what happened in the match against the Slash, and it infuriated head coach Steve Cameron. You play so well for three quarters, shutting them down, and then all of the sudden they double their goal total in the fourth while you don’t get anything? Cameron threatened to bench the entire defense for this game against Kura-Pelland but then decided he would give them a second chance, but they better make the most of it. The Millionaires didn’t have much trouble scoring in the first half, finding the back of the net nine times with Steve Cushman leading the way with six of those nine goals. The man was on fire, and seemed to take the collapse of the previous game to heart. They led 9-4 at halftime, and early in the third quarter, they had a 10-5 lead. Here, coach Cameron elected to a call a timeout and chewed out his team. It would seem strange to some, but he was sending them the message that this time, they better not be coughing up the advantage. The speech seemed to work as the team went up 13-6 after the third quarter. But then in the fourth, it began to fall apart. 13-7, 13-8, 13-9, 13-10. What the hell is going on here? 13-11. With Cameron shouting expletives that could be heard all throughout the stadium, the team woke up and scored the next two goals, and held on for the victory. Now they have a bye day, which they will need because something needs to be done about their terrible fourth quarter play.

Dancougar

09-01-2009, 22:02

Another chorus of boos from the Tundra Falls faithful. Kamjin once again had taken Keith Taylor out of the play with a nasty, yet legal, check. The ball squirted free and Sally scooped it up, passing immediately to Sterling. She'd been victimized for several Rocket goals already because Kamjin and Layla were simply dominating their opposing forwards. The crowd wasn't too happy about that.

But back to the play. Sterling needed to either evade Kyle Foster or get rid of the ball. Foster was bearing down on him and was keen to re-energize the crowd. Sterling opted to fire a quick square ball to Molly, who had created a little space for herself behind Foster. She ran up into a clump of forwards. The Newmanistan 'keeper, Copeland, gritted his teeth. It was that damn formation of theirs again.

"Daedalus Attack!" called Lisa. They rushed at goal. The Rocket defenders were trying to figure out who to cover. Which one of them would have the ball this time? Rick sprinted out of the pack towards goal. Him! No, a feint! It was Lisa who took the brief opening to get a free look at goal, and with an emphatic snap of her crosse, the Wings had another.

Prince Michael was livid.

Samantha cheered the goal enthusiastically while Worldly kept his composure on the bench. "They seem to be taken completely aback by Lisa's strategy," he said. "Although we're relying on it a bit too much, don't you think?"

"We will change our attack when they adapt to this one," Beck replied. "Frankly, if it continues to work, we have no reason to back down."

By halftime, the Rockets were certainly adjusting. Dancougar led 6-4 and the team began to believe they could win. But the Rockets figured the best way to stop the formation was to prevent the Wings from linking up. They switched to a tight man-to-man defense that served to isolate the Wings from each other. They popped a few in to pull even by halftime. Kamjin was particularly angry at himself for missing a hit that would've prevented a shot.

Beck drew up some new plans. "The fact that two goals is the largest deficit they've faced says a lot about their strength," he said. "But to have a tie at halftime is still excellent from our point of view. If we can keep it close, we have a chance."

**********

Rick was getting frustrated. He'd only found the net twice in the game, which was respectable but not spectacular. He had to show these Rockets that the Wings were different from the last time they'd played. But an intelligent bump from Michael Leahey threw him off the ball and created yet another turnover. The Rockets whipped the ball upfield and tried to run it to three straight goals, but at the last moment, Sally popped up with a surprise hit. She went down along with Jason Green, but that was enough.

The ball found its way back to Roy, who had taken over for the Wings as the chief source of offense. He was on fire. Copeland had saved his last effort, but that only made him more determined to score this time. He weaved past a defender and sized up the goal. "Watch me, Rick!" he yelled. "This is what it takes to be a star in this game!!" He picked a spot just behind Copeland, away from his crosse, and by the time the 'keeper had reacted, the ball was already in the net. The seesaw battle continued.

Tied at 11 going into the final quarter. Prince Michael had calmed down but still didn't look happy. Worldly was a little more concerned. "They're starting to slow down a bit, aren't they?" he asked.

"So you've noticed, too," said Beck. "The Rockets are more experienced in these clutch situations, and we've been working very hard to keep pace all game. I'm afraid the fourth quarter will be the toughest one on us."

**********

A whoop from the Spacy Redshirts on the Dancougar bench! Rick had converted a smooth pass from Lisa into a goal, cutting the Newmanistan lead to 13-12. Newmanistan won back possession, so now they needed a stop. After that, they needed to rush forward for the tie. The Daedalus Attack might work again now that the Rocket defense was hanging back a little.

Their defense, though, was slowing down. Even Kamjin was getting exhausted, as evidenced by the return of the "Capital Connection" to their usual scoring ways. But he refused to allow Worldly to substitute him. He was too proud for that. Molly and Sterling pulled back to create a defensive shell. Prince Michael smiled when he saw what they were trying to do...

"Pinpoint Barrier!" ordered Kai-Fu. The Black Wings' ultimate zone defense... would it hold up?

Without hesitation, the Rockets ran into the Dancougar third. This forced the shell to collapse whenever a player ran inside. Well, maybe just a little, as all the Wings were doing was cut out the passing lanes. That was working fine. Except...

"The fatal weakness," Beck said. "The Pinpoint Barrier is fine at keeping a ballcarrier from making too much progress towards the goal. However..."

"Off-the-ball movement still opens shooting lanes!" Worldly gasped. Sure enough, there was the midfielder Foster with just Layla - already removed from her usual position by the shifting Rockets - between him and the goal. The others were too busy to provide assistance. Kai-Fu was screened and duly beaten.

Now two goals down, the Black Wings' tactics had been soundly beaten. All they could do now was try to outplay Newmanistan conventionally for the last two minutes. That wasn't happening. Not today...

Greal

09-01-2009, 22:15

Oiseaui 10-15 Greal
Greali make a convincing win.

Oiseaui and Greal fought a bitter match yesterday, but the Greali turned out to be on top of the match. After winning, the Greali team were elevated to the second spot of the group. Jesscia Epson reported two more players were injured during the match and would be replaced for two days. Today, the Greali will be playing Lovisa, who have been battered after three defeats. We wish good luck to both sides, but most of it has to go to the Greali if they want to qualify.

Secristan

09-01-2009, 23:17

MD5 RP Cutoff!

Group A

Dancougar 17-10 Myedvedeya
The Deadly Irish 16-9 Colbourne

Pos Group A P W L GF GA GD
1 Newmanistan 4 4 0 55 38 17
2 Dancougar 4 3 1 61 45 16
3 The Deadly Irish 4 2 2 48 45 3
4 Myedvedeya 4 1 3 38 52 -14
5 Colbourne 4 0 4 34 56 -22

Group B

Lovisa 6-10 Greal
Cassadaigua 11-8 Oiseaui

Pos Group B P W L GF GA GD
1 Taeshan 4 4 0 53 26 27
2 Greal 4 3 1 48 44 4
3 Cassadaigua 4 2 2 42 44 -2
4 Oiseaui 4 1 3 38 47 -9
5 Lovisa 4 0 4 27 47 -20

Group C

Kura-Pelland 16-8 Kjomasasopia
Tocrowkia 6-15 Sarzonia

Pos Group C P W L GF GA GD
1 Sarzonia 4 4 0 57 33 24
2 Secristan 4 3 1 53 40 13
3 Kura-Pelland 4 2 2 51 42 9
4 Kjomasasopia 4 1 3 32 56 -24
5 Tocrowkia 4 0 4 28 50 -22

Sarzonia

10-01-2009, 02:57

Portland Press-Herald

Slash dominates Reich in away result 15-6

By Larry Bridger
Press-Herald Staff Writer

TOCROWKIA -- Sarzonia lacrosse coach Harold Price wanted a solid performance for the Slash before it was set to face World Lacrosse Championship hosts Secristan in what he called a "critical" game at the Chip Moose Lacrosse Stadium in Woodstock.

He got it and then some. Behind four goals from attackman Tim Cole and five assists from midfielder Dwayne Dyer, Sarzonia easily defeated Tocrowkia 15-6.

"We wanted to assert ourselves and not allow ourselves to look past Tocrowkia with the Millionaires set to come play in Woodstock," Price said. "We were able to take advantage of our chances and convert shots into goals. When you do that, you have a chance to win in any sport."

Sarzonia improved to 4-0, among three teams who are still undefeated at the halfway point of qualifying for the third World Lacrosse Championship. For a team that hadn't played competitively at the international level, other media outlets are paying attention. According to The Rocket Report published by Newmanistani media, "Sarzonia destroyed Kjomasasopia, continuing to send a message to the world that they are for real," after the Slash defeated Kjomasasopia 16-6 in Woodstock.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," said midfielder Carter Whitlock. "We started the tournament with two outstanding wins against teams that have a heritage of playing lacrosse. We've played our last two matches against teams that haven't had the same kind of results. We haven't proven anything yet."

Cole agreed, saying the Sarzonians still have to face Kura-Pelland away and will be wary of Secristan.

"Secristan is still smarting from the [overtime] win on Matchday Three," Cole said. "They're going to give us their best shot. Kura-Pelland is not out of the running by any stretch. They're an outstanding team. We had to come back to defeat them."

Unlike the second home fixture against Kjomasasopia, which drew less than 12,000 fans, ticket sales for the Secristan match have been brisk. Team organisers have said if ticket demand continues at its current pace, they could move the game to Hendrix Stadium, which seats nearly 57,000.

Price said he expects the Slash to be ready no matter where -- or whom -- they play.

"We've got a standard we're setting here," Price said. "We want to make sure we continue to meet and exceed that standard."

Dancougar

10-01-2009, 09:13

"It's important that we establish the tone right away," Worldly said with his players huddled around him. The stands at Dyson College were still pitifully empty, but at least the turnout was better than it had been for The Deadly Irish. Word had gotten back to the nation's lacrosse fans that the team had hung in there with the Rockets, and even with a loss, that counted for something.

"We've got them on both ends of the bye, and we'll need to beat them twice to try and build a cushion in the standings," Worldly continued. "The way we do that is show them the loss means nothing. Toss it aside and run them ragged. Carry that momentum across the break and do it again. Then we're in business!"

It looked good early, with the Wings running up a 4-0 lead en route to 9-4 by halftime. The team was fortunate to look up in the stands and see precisely zero bears rooting on the opposition. "I heard they sailed a whole boatload in when they were in the basketball final," Lisa had muttered between goals. "They drank all the beer in the arena and roared every time one of their guys made a basket."

"I hear one ate a guy," Ben piped up, but Roy smacked him in the back of the head.

"You idiot, there's not enough alcohol in the country to make one that crazy," he said. "They're bears, but they're smart." Ben was just staring at him and Roy realized he didn't even have a clue. And he realized he must have sounded like an idiot with all that. "Yeah. Smart bears."

Roy didn't have any difficulty racking up a hat trick as he'd done against the Rockets, and rick added three of his own before halftime. The team stuck with conventional tactics and used the Daedalus Attack sparingly to avoid giving the Myedvedeyans a chance to adapt to their tactics. Kamjin was his usual self at the back, although a few sharp hits early drew the ire of the referee and he was once again forced to scale it back a bit or face a sending-off. As usual, that got the opposing offense going.

Myedvedeya closed it to 9-7 after the break with some smooth passing, and Kai-Fu chewed out his defense for letting them get close. Molly fell back to help Sally deal with the overload Myedvedeya was putting on her side; they'd seen how Jason Green had victimized her, the weakest of the three starting defenders. Sterling made tireless runs throughout the midfield once the ball was won, and slowly, surely, the Wings restored the advantage. Rick ripped another one between the 'keeper's legs, which was becoming one of his favorite shots thanks to its demoralizing effect. The lead was up to 14-8 going into the fourth quarter.

"Lisa is getting ignored because of her runs behind the net," Beck mentioned during the break. "You should try making a run to the open side for a pass."

She decided it couldn't hurt. With Rick receiving a long pass from Layla, play was blown wide open. There was lots of space for him to run, but sure enough, he spotted Lisa coming around the net with no defenders picking her up. He whipped the ball in her direction, and she converted the pass into a wraparound goal that served only to confirm the victory. 17-10 at the final whistle, and the Wings could call it a successful first half.

"Thank god we have a break, we're going to need to absorb all the heat we can before we go there," said Molly. "You think maybe they'll have a mild spell?"

"Doubt it," said Sterling. "Well, we'll deal. Think of it as motivation to run harder."

"Hey, I wish I'd seen you making those runs earlier," Rick said, pulling Lisa aside. "You could've easily had two or three of those."

"Nah, I thought I'd let you pad your stats," she replied with a smile. She was in a good mood today. This was one of the few times he'd seemed interested in her game. This is a start...

Any chance of a further reply was halted by the sudden appearance of Kai-Fu's sister, May, who came dashing through the gate and onto the field. A few startled spectators didn't even have time to register that it was her before she came to a rest in front of Rick and Lisa, panting from her run. "R-r-rick, I wanted to tell you!" she gasped, perking up once she'd caught her breath. "I just heard from the manager, and got her as soon as I could... the benefit concert is on!"

"Benefit concert?" asked Lisa.

"That's great! So you were able to do it!" exclaimed Rick. He wanted to give her a big hug, but the entire team was watching and he was a sweaty beast at the moment, so she probably wouldn't appreciate that. "Are you sure it's not too much trouble?"

"Not at all!" she replied. "Since you asked so sweetly, I rearranged a few things so we could get it in!"

"That's... very generous, thank you," Lisa said at last before pulling Rick aside. "But we can discuss details later. We need to go over the game and get cleaned up."

"Can't we just talk for a..." Rick began, but Lisa had tugged him past and the rest of the team was suppressing laughter as they filed past. "I'll call you when we're done!" he yelled as he was dragged into the locker room.

May waved back with a smile and became aware of the few dozen fans who had crowded around her...

Cassadaigua

10-01-2009, 13:23

Ashley’s Blog

Halfway complete with the World Lacrosse Championships now, we sit in the 3rd position in Group B, which is not good enough to qualify for the knockout stages in Secristan. However, we are right on the outside looking in with our 2-2 record after defeating Oiseaui last night by the score of 11-8. Whether or not we move on depends strong on our next game, which is in Greal. If it seems like we just played them, we did. That was a wild 17-15 game, but not exactly the kind of match that we are looking to get into against all of our opponents. We would much prefer the kind of games that we had against Oiseaui, where we are strong defensively as well. Should we lose our next game, then we are probably done as we will be two games behind them, which will be difficult to overcome because they would also have the tiebreaker. Really, if they did win this match, they would have to lose the rest of their matches, and we would have to win out in order to qualify, which would mean that we would have to defeat Taeshan. So we need the win, and we would like to win by more then two goals to clinch the tiebreaker over them. If we are able to do this, then our chances become better at finishing second.

I think that we have a lot of potential as a team. Our losses haven't been too bad as far as our effort was concerned, and as long as we play better on defense against Greal we should be all set. I am confident that we can oull out victories over Lovisa and Oiseaui again. Lovisa was expected to be a stronger opponent, but right now, they are not scaring anyone in this group. All we have to do is look at Sarzonia in Group C. There's a first time nation who hasn't backed down from any opponent and has gone on to have a perfect first half in a group that already had two strong teams. So I know that we will keep with it, and do what needs to be done.

Newmanistan

10-01-2009, 21:53

THE ROCKET REPORT

ALL’S WELL AT HALFWAY?

Pocono City, Newmanistan- At the halfway point of the World Lacrosse Championships, Newmanistan sits in the top spot of the Group, with a perfect 4-0 record, one of three teams that have gone perfect thus far. That fact means that there is still plenty of meaning in these second half games, as just two group winners get the first round bye. In fact, with the standings the way they are right now, the Rockets would be the #3 seed, which would mean they would not get that bye. They would play Greal if it ended now, and if you can avoid a do-or-die match against a pesky opponent like that, it would be a good thing. As good as it has looked, therefore, maybe it is just not enough. I, Meghan Traynor, talked to the Prince about this, and other things in this latest interview.

MT: Good afternoon fans, I am Meghan Traynor, here with royalty, Prince Michael as the Empire gets set for the second half of the exciting Lacrosse championships. Nice to see you!

PM: Thank you Meghan, always nice to see you.

MT: Before we get to the lacrosse, you know what I am going to have to ask you about, so let’s just get it out of the way first.

PM: I figured this.

MT: Your sister (Empress Jessica), stunned the nation by declaring that Newmanistan would not participate in the World Cup anymore, and it has sparked some considerable protests across the country. Why did you make this decision as I know many of these are jointly made.

PM: My sister explained the reasons for the decision pretty clearly in her statement, I thought.

MT: Yes, but there is no way that you can expect the country to just say ok, I guess we aren’t going to do that anymore. What about all the young football players out there?

PM: The Empress knows what is best for Newmanistan and we should all be trusting her judgement. We didn’t talk much about it as I have tried to keep my attention on the lacrosse team because we have a championship to win. Now if the country could also turn their attention to lacrosse, like it should be, then everything will be fine.

MT: No offense, but that sounds like a very self-serving statement.

PM: Are we going to talk about lacrosse, Meghan?

MT: Yes I was going to get to it, but I am just trying to ..... (She is interrupted)

PM: That’s enough I don’t need anymore of this. Bye Meghan.

So there you have it, my very brief interview with the Prince. I had planned on getting to lacrosse, but I have to also do my duty and ask what is going on here. His rather cold nature here really baffled me, and I have to wonder about the one statement he made. Are the Empress and the Prince simply that concerned that football has become too big of a deal in our country, to where World Cup qualifying would overshadow the World Lacrosse Championships? We all want the lacrosse team to do well, and the second half kicks off with the team in Colbourne before they have their second bye day. What is the mood of the players right now? Does the Prince have control of the team, and will this have any affect out there on the field? Well, we would have to wait and see. Prince Michael has always been very nice to me in the interviews that we have done, so his sudden departure this afternoon is something that really shocked me. I really don’t understand what is going on. Do any of us?

Secristan

11-01-2009, 00:06

MD6 RP Cutoff!

Group A

Colbourne 8-17 Newmanistan
The Deadly Irish 7-12 Myedvedeya

Pos Group A P W L GF GA GD
1 Newmanistan 5 5 0 72 46 26
2 Dancougar 4 3 1 61 45 16
3 The Deadly Irish 5 2 3 55 57 -2
4 Myedvedeya 5 2 3 50 59 -9
5 Colbourne 5 0 5 42 73 -31

*- Tiebreak between The Deadly Irish and Myedvedeya will come down to overall GD if necessary. H2H and GD between them is even.

Group B

Oiseaui 5-16 Taeshan
Cassadaigua 16-13 Greal

Pos Group B P W L GF GA GD
1 Taeshan 5 5 0 69 31 38
2 Cassadaigua 5 3 2 58 57 1
3 Greal 5 3 2 61 60 1
4 Oiseaui 5 1 4 43 63 -20
5 Lovisa 4 0 4 27 47 -20

*- Cassadaigua holds tiebreak over Greal (+1 GD in H2H matchups; H2H is a 1-1 tie)

Group C

Sarzonia 9-12 Secristan
Tocrowkia 12-11 (OT) Kjomasasopia

Pos Group C P W L GF GA GD
1 Secristan 5 4 1 65 49 16
2 Sarzonia 5 4 1 66 45 21
3 Kura-Pelland 4 2 2 51 42 9
4 Kjomasasopia 5 1 4 43 68 -25
5 Tocrowkia 5 1 4 40 61 -21

*- Secristan holds tiebreak over Sarzonia (+2 GD in H2H matchups; H2H is a 1-1 tie)

Sarzonia

11-01-2009, 02:28

Portland Press-Herald

Slash stunned at home

By Larry Bridger
Press-Herald Staff Writer

WOODSTOCK -- They won't finish undefeated.

After winning the first four games of the third World Lacrosse Championships including a dramatic overtime win over Secristan, the Sarzonian national lacrosse team stumbled in front of a sold out crowd of 22,130 at the Chip Moose Lacrosse Stadium.

"We weren't able to execute in this match the way we did in the first four," said Sarzonia coach Harold Price. "Secristan are a strong lacrosse club. We didn't expect them to just come in and lie down."

They certainly didn't. Secristan (4-1) was considered one of the favourites to win the tournament by many prognosticators. They proved that against the Slash. Like the first game against Secristan, Sarzonia (4-1) started out with a large deficit and had to rally. However, this time the Millionaires held on after building a 12-3 lead early in the third quarter.

"We weren't able to match their intensity," said Sarzonia attackman Tim Cole, who scored three goals. "I guess some of us started believing the press clippings."

To a man, Slash players said they didn't pay attention to media reports that declared them the darlings of the championships. However, the Slash didn't get their offence in gear until they trailed 12-3. The Slash scored the final six goals in the third and fourth quarter, but ran out of time.

"We have to make sure we don't put ourselves in position to be forced to rally, especially against an outstanding side like the Millionaires," Price said. "The fact is, we can't tempt fate the way we have been."

Sarzonia faces Tocrowkia, which got their first win of the tournament, defeating Kjomasasopia 12-11 in overtime. The Slash said they weren't taking the Reich lightly in spite of their 10-goal victory away, a 16-6 win.

"We're not in a position where we can afford to take anyone lightly," midfielder Carter Whitlock said. "The fact we faced them on Matchday 4 gives us major cause for concern."

Taeshan

11-01-2009, 06:41

Flaming Falcons Go 5-0 By Defeating Oiseaui

Yes there now 5-0, and well on there way to making it to the next round, and easily finishing at 8-0. The team smashed the young team from Oiseaui 16-5 in there highest scoring victory of the season. They are eaily handling the teck back to the champiopnship and are easily defeating everyone in there path. they may be at there best from in team history.

The Falcons started of with some poor defense. It was five to nothing after the first five minutes. They were down but, Rowan Qwarant was able to lead the team back, and Greg Fornfelt kept them scoreless fro the closing minutes of the game. Qwaramnt would score seven of the teams goals, William Kelly added 3, Piers Fohneger added two, as did Ollie Richenham and Seth Thatcher. It was an exciting comeback and an exciting win.

Newmanistan

11-01-2009, 12:36

THE ROCKET REPORT

COLBOURNE OFFERS LITTLE RESISTANCE

Colbourne- The game was sandwiched between the two bye days in which the Rockets will have, so the team had no excuse not to be healthy for the encounter. The Colbourne national side, who also participated in the 2nd World Lacrosse Championships simply have had a very difficult time this year. Defensively, they have been exploited in every which way you can imagine, and have the worst overall record out of all the fifteen teams participating. Taking on an offensive as explosive as Newmanistan’s would not be the way to make things better, either. The players, and the Prince may have been glad to be on the road as well to avoid all of the questions about you know what.

It took Newmanistan a mere fourteen seconds to score of the first goal of the match. A run by Kyle Foster down the field and a pass to Jason Green and a quick score by the home team goalie certainly gave the Colbourne supporters the feeling that was going to be a long day. The Capital Connection found their groove early too, with Curt Farrell and Keith Taylor each scoring two goals in the opening quarter, and the other having an assist on the goal. Another goal, by Matt Knight, make the fans of the home team quickly get all thoughts of an upset out of their heads quickly. At the end of the first quarter, it wasn’t exactly sure which was the more telling number: the six goals scored by Newmanistan, or the big ol’ goose egg up there for Colbourne. The defense came to play as well with Pete Buckley and Michael Leahey having their way with the attackers. Jason Copeland didn’t really have a lot of difficult shots to have to worry about as the Rockets started to run away with the match. Colbourne did score the first two goals of the second quarter, but any excitement off of that would be very short lived. Both Farrell and Taylor would complete their hat tricks very early, and Michael Kinser added a pair, with another by Jason Green as the offense simply was not tested. Colbourne scored one right before the end of the half, but Newmanistan was up real big at the break, 11-3. They hadn’t had one real big statement game yet, and we were beginning to wonder just how many more the Rockets would score. Perhaps, they could even hit the 20 mark.

Prince Michael, who has been visibly bothered by all the questions coming at him over his sister’s startling announcement concerning the football team didn’t seem to have any desire to let up. He gave the team an aggressive message. Continue the attack, kick them while their down and stomp on their throat! The players may have been expecting something else, and some of the backups may have preferred to hear that they would be about to get some playing time, but instead the Rockets would continue to play aggressively. For Kyle Foster and Michael Kinser, this meant try to do cute little things and score highlight reel type goals. The showboating on the field to start the third quarter seemed to make a mockery of the Colbourne players, but it didn’t really seem to anger them. That is because the Rockets execution simply wasn’t there. The ill-advised passes meant more work for the defense as Colbourne took advantage of stupid mistakes and scored three goals in the first six minutes of the third quarter. Despite that the Prince didn’t make any changes, and the careless play continued. They did get two goals out of it eventually, one by each Taylor and Farrell, but another Colbourne score made it 13-7. For the fourth, the Prince finally decided to tell his team to cut out the cutesy plays and get back to normal. Colbourne scored the first goal of the quarter to close to within five, and knowing that there has been a lot of fourth quarter comebacks going around the WLC, it was pretty clear that they needed to slam the door. Matt Knight took it on himself and scored three consecutive goals, all coming in a span of 2:20, and Jason Green would add one to put the team up by the score of 17-8. The game settled in at that point, and that’s how it would end. Newmanistan is now 5-0 and about to have another bye.

In the other Group A match, Myedvedeya topped The Deadly Irish 12-7 in the battle for third place. Both of those teams are now 2-3. In Group B, there is no stopping Taeshan right now. The Flaming Falcons are also 5-0 as they destroyed Oiseaui by the score of 16-5. The big match in the group was the other one as Greal and Cassadaigua look to be battling for second. After Greal won a high scoring encounter 17-15 the first time, Cassadaigua won a high scoring match this time, 16-13, allowing them to clinch the tiebreaker, which could be very big. In Group C, Tocrowkia finally won, defeating Kjomasasopia in overtime, 12-11. The big match here though was the showdown between Sarzonia and Secristan, and it would be the Millionaires getting a big win on the road over the slash to put both of those teams at 4-1. That result may go along way in clinching the first round bye for both us and Taeshan.

Cassadaigua

11-01-2009, 16:01

Ashley’s Blog

In one shot, our chances of qualifying and going to Secristan went from bleak to promising. We were up 15-13, with time running out. But the game was not over. The fans in the stands, a lot of them seemed to understand the urgency of us scoring one more goal. While others probably looked on and still didn’t get it. A score by Greal, with just 38 seconds left on the clock cut the lead the two, leaving the tiebreaker between us even. We went on the attack, and with fourteen seconds left, a Lauren Mineri shot was stopped by Ross Sony, but Carrie Boardman was on the rebound. She had the presence of mind to kick it back, and with two more passes, Courtney Bernard took the shot. Into the net, with the clock reading 0.4 seconds remaining! The game may had already been won at that point, but it was that score that is going to go a long way in determining if we move on or not. We have the same three opponents remaining, including the Flaming Falcons of Taeshan, but now the pressure is off of us to feel that we have to beat them, where perhaps it is now on Greal to see if they can get a win against them or not.

The game itself wasn’t the ideal kind of game for us. We spent a lot of extra time in practice working on defensive tactics as we really didn’t want to get into another high scoring affair with them. After a first quarter that went tied at five goals a piece, it was pretty clear that we were in for more of the same of what we had seen in Greal in our previous meeting. At least we were getting th goals. Carrie and Courtney (Boardman & Bernard) were both shooting very well and our ball movement in the offensive zone was sensational. The goals were spread out pretty well, and in opening up a 10-8 advantage at halftime, we were feeling very good about things. Most of us will tell you though that we won this game in the third. This is where we were at our best on defense, and only allowed two goals, and we were able to score four times. Being up by four was comforting, and on a personal level, it was nice to get a hat trick in the match. They got to within 14-12 in the fourth, but no closer, and we were able to secure what ends up being a very important win for us. It puts us at 3-2, and we will take on Oiseaui on the road coming up, before our final home game against Lovisa, then concluding the group stage in Taeshan.

As other Dagan teams struggle, it’s very nice to be having this kind of performance, whether we make it or not. I feel as though we have done a good job establishing ourselves as a good lacrosse nation, and with Sarzonia getting a lot of the first-time nation respect, we may just be flying under the radar here a little bit. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I know a lot of us are excited about that looming Taeshan match, as after all, if we get to Secristan, we’re only going to be playing strong nations like that.

Dancougar

11-01-2009, 22:11

The stands were simply not large enough to fit in everyone who wanted to listen. It was just enough to have people milling about the stadium. No, they weren't all lacrosse fans, but by the end of the night, some of them might be. May was singing for the team's sake, after all. She'd made a point of showing off the team's exploits and trying to sell the game in between sets. Now, with the crowd buzzing, she launched into her next song.

Zero-G love! Zero-G love!
Zero-G love, Zero-G love!

Walking home from school... the same as every day
Reached the crossroads where we... always parted ways
He looked right and to the left... no one was in sight
And a quick kiss on my cheek... set my heart alight!

I blush red, I act mad, turn and run away
And yet, but still, even so...
My mind is spinning, spinning
My heart is racing, racing

Zero-G love! Zero-G love!
Four, three, two, one, zero-g love!
With a smile I know that tonight, I'll say I lo~ove you too!

From the concession shack, Worldly hummed the tune while he watched video footage of the previous Myedvedeya game on his laptop. Beck was busy typing away on his. Samantha was probably somewhere in that mess of people.

"Is it really all right for us to be taking it easy like this?" asked Worldly. "After all, the Rockets are just going to keep winning."

"Byes should be used to recuperating as well as planning," Beck replied. "We'll have four straight games now, and the first two come on the road. It's crucial we enter them with a relaxed frame of mind. If we worry unnecessarily, we could dig ourselves into a hole."

"Just need to hold onto that second place, huh?" asked Worldly. The crowd cheered as May finished her song. "If we could get even a handful of these people to support us when the home games resume, we can call this a victory."

Greal

11-01-2009, 23:02

Cassadaigua 16-13 Greal
Now its a tie, who will be first to break it?

Greal was shockingly defeated by Cassadaigua. Now both teams are tied in the group. Who will be the first to break the tie. Greal will play unranked Lovisa today while Cassadaigua will play Oiseaui. Both teams have a good chance of being beaten, so we may still be stuck in a draw on Matchday Seven. Greali television reported a high surge of viwers recently due to an explosion of interest in Lacrosse, partly helped by Greal's abysmal performance in World Cup 44.

Secristan

11-01-2009, 23:31

MD7 RP Cutoff!

Group A

Myedvedeya 8-17 Dancougar
Colbourne 13-12 The Deadly Irish

Pos Group A P W L GF GA GD
1 Newmanistan 5 5 0 72 46 26 Q
2 Dancougar 5 4 1 78 53 25
3 The Deadly Irish 6 2 4 67 70 -3
4 Myedvedeya 6 2 4 58 76 -18
5 Colbourne 6 1 5 55 85 -30 E

*- Tiebreak between The Deadly Irish and Myedvedeya will come down to overall GD if necessary. H2H and GD between them is even.

Group B

Greal 12-9 Lovisa
Cassadaigua 17-12 Oiseaui

Pos Group B P W L GF GA GD
1 Taeshan 5 5 0 69 31 38
2 Cassadaigua 6 4 2 75 69 6
3 Greal 6 4 2 73 69 4
4 Oiseaui 6 1 5 55 80 -25 E
5 Lovisa 5 0 5 36 59 -23 E

*- Cassadaigua holds tiebreak over Greal (+1 GD in H2H matchups; H2H is a 1-1 tie)

Group C

Kjomasasopia 5-14 Kura-Pelland
Sarzonia 19-6 Tocrowkia

Pos Group C P W L GF GA GD
1 Sarzonia 6 5 1 85 51 34
2 Secristan 5 4 1 65 49 16
3 Kura-Pelland 5 3 2 65 47 18
4 Kjomasasopia 6 1 5 48 82 -34 E
5 Tocrowkia 6 1 5 46 80 -34 E

*- Secristan holds tiebreak over Sarzonia (+2 GD in H2H matchups; H2H is a 1-1 tie)

Sarzonia

12-01-2009, 00:02

Portland Press-Herald

Slash dominates Tocrowkia again, rests before key match

By Larry Bridger
Press-Herald Staff Writer

WOODSTOCK -- Both Harold Price and Rob Davies were having one of their best days of the tournament.

Sarzonia dominated Tocrowkia 19-6 in front of 13,106 at Chip Moose Lacrosse Stadium in Woodstock, improving the team to 5-1 overall. The team currently sits in first place, a half game against 4-1 Secristan. After a 14-5 loss to Kura-Pelland by Kjomasasopia, the race for Group C's two playoff berths would be down to three teams, as Sarzonia's win eliminated the Reich, while Kjomasasopia's eliminated them.

Now, host nation Secristan and Kura-Pelland, the hosts of the inaugural tournament, will battle lacrosse newcomers Sarzonia for two of the three berths. That came after each of Sarzonia's three attackmen scored four goals. That came after the Slash defence shut Tocrowkia out over the last 20 minutes of the match, building a 12-5 lead at halftime, then scoring the final five goals of the game.

Sarzonia gets a needed bye while they watch Secristan and Kura-Pelland play games against the two teams who have already been eliminated from the tournament. After the bye, Sarzonia travels to Kura-Pelland for a vital game.

Sarzonia (5-1, first place Group C) may still advance to the knockout stage depending on what Kura-Pelland does against Secristan, but Price said his team will do everything it can to control its destiny.

"We've got extra time to prepare for Kura-Pelland," Price said. "We're going to need it. They're a strong side."

The other newcomer to make an impact, Cassadaigua, defeated Oiseaui 17-12. They have a tiebreaker advantage over Greal in goal differential during head to head matchups, so while both teams are 4-2, Cassadaigua would advance if both teams remain tied for the second and final playoff spot in Group B.

As for Group A, Newmanistan and Dancougar are both in favourable position, with Newmanistan having clinched a knockout stage berth in Secristan with a 5-0 record. Group B leader Taeshan is also undefeated with a 5-0 record, a game and a half clear of both Cassadaigua and Greal.

Cassadaigua

12-01-2009, 16:34

Ashley’s Blog

Maybe getting into shootouts with our opponents is a good thing. Once again we found ourselves in a wide open game and we were able to get a pretty important win over Oiseaui to keep pace with Greal in Group B and stay ahead of them on the tiebreaker. It was a 17-12 victory as all of the sudden we are scoring in bunches. Oiseaui got off to the better start in the match, leading us 5-3 after the first quarter and 9-7 after the second. In the second, we felt as though we were getting some momentum late in the period and that we had begun to find an answer Isais Power, who had a big first half for them. We didn’t think that it’d be an easy match at all and they may be a little better then their record shows them as being. But we were coming on there late in the second half, and made some pretty big adjustments to contain Power. A superstar like him can’t do anything if he doesn’t have the ball, and we looked to clog up their passing lanes to get him the ball. It worked, and even though they managed to get some shots off, Jennifer Tipton gave us some superb goaltending, keeping their score at 9 as we began to make our mark. I scored two goals in the third, but overall as a team we found the net six times, with Hannah Levenson picking up three of the scores to give us a 13-9 lead. We won the Greal game in the 3rd quarter, and there would be no denying that we won this match in the third as well, shutting them out 6-0 during the period. We actually extended the lead to 15-9 before we conceded a goal again, but the game was ours from there. We are now 4-2 and tied with Greal for second place but as I said we have the tiebreaker on them. We play in Lovisa next while Greal travels to Taeshan. Then its our turn on the road in Taeshan. They will close out with Oiseaui. Most in the media will tell you that it looks like both of us will go 1-1 in these two games, meaning we tie at 5-3 and second place is ours. Greal probably has to beat Taeshan, whereas we would just like too. We won’t take anything for granted though, and I think you will see us have a strong game against winless Lovisa. They aren’t nearly as bad as their record makes them look. This just probably wasn’t the right group for them.

Dancougar

12-01-2009, 19:43

No Dancougar signs in the stands. Rick sighed. "In the end, I guess they all just wanted to hear May sing."

"I don't think that's the problem..." Roy began. The rest of the team nodded in agreement, shivering from head to toe. "It's blinkin' cold up in here."

"That hasn't stopped people," Rick protested. "If this was American football, we'd have shirtless guys with face paint and a beer in each hand."

"Aaaaaand... that helps us how?" asked Lisa.

"At least they'd be making noise," Rick said, but he had to agree that if he was just here to watch a game... well, he wouldn't be. Myedvedeya, huh? No wonder it was full of bears. Anything that wasn't covered in fur and fat couldn't stand living here unless they racked up a heating bill that would even make a Secristani cry, DEAR GOD, YOU BID HOW MUCH FOR THAT?!

Well, that would be a motivation for the game, then. The more they ran, the more heat they'd generate. And the more heat they generated, the less horrible it would be to be outside. And if they kept the game clock moving, they could leave this place with hope that it was warmer in The Deadly Irish.

**********

Swish! Rick buried his fourth goal of the first half as the Wings raced to a 10-3 lead. Roy added a hat trick of his own as the team ran rampant. It seemed like they had an extra gear. The defense waited impatiently for play to resume. Yeah... they were all running to keep warm.

Worldly watched the team from the bench with a look of approval on his face. They were playing even better against the Myedvedeyans than they had at home. "They're on fire!" Worldly said at last. "That's four for Rick, now. He's certainly been stepping up his play."

"He didn't play as well as he's used to against Newmanistan," Beck replied. "Given that they're the biggest threat in the group, he probably feels like he let himself and the team down. I suspect he's trying to get into top form for the return leg so we can carry some momentum into the final tournament, provided we qualify, of course."

"I think the concert also perked him up," said Worldly with a grin.

"What, you mean the girl, May Linn?" asked Beck. He looked at play continuing on the field and then turned back to his laptop. "Youth is so confusing. You pass through it and when you look back, you wonder just what he hell it was that you were doing..."

**********

"Bus, bus, bus, bus!!" Sally was muttering under her breath as she ran out of locker room to the waiting vehicle, where she had been assured the heat was on. Roy laughed as he exited the locker room as the rest of the team filed out. Their 17-8 win had been every bit as dominant as they'd hoped. Three matches to go.

"The results from the other games are coming in," said Beck, pulling up his laptop. "We're second in the group; we and the Rockets have a a game in hand. Given these outcomes, we just need one more win to clinch at least second place."

"No way!" exclaimed Ben, looking at the standings. "That's awesome!"

"The question now is what we do to handle The Deadly Irish," Lisa said, glancing at the schedule. They were now on the bus and could feel life returning to their limbs. "They gave us a hard time in the first match."

"I propose drinking heavily before the match in order to understand their tactics," Kamjin said. "I volunteer myself for this most important training exercise."

"Idiot," Layla said, punching him playfully in the arm. Then, under her breath, "Though I wouldn't mind a drink once we get there..."

Greal

12-01-2009, 23:12

Greal 12-9 Lovisa
Greal wins, but is behind

Greal won an almost match against Lovisa, 12-9. But that did not make up for the other victory pulled off by Cassadaigua. If Greal is going to advance to the next round, they desperately have to beat Taeshan, at any cost. It won't be easy, Taeshan has one of the world's best Lacrosse teams and we're relatively new. Now we gotta play these guys. Greali television reported a small surge in viewers during the match against Lovisa. Jessica Epson says her team will qualify if it wins the next two matches, it can't afford to lose one of them.

Secristan

13-01-2009, 00:06

MD8 RP Cutoff!

Group A

Newmanistan 14-10 Myedvedeya
The Deadly Irish 4-16 Dancougar

Pos Group A P W L GF GA GD
1 Newmanistan 6 6 0 86 56 30 Q
2 Dancougar 6 5 1 94 57 37 Q
3 The Deadly Irish 7 2 5 71 86 -15 E
4 Myedvedeya 7 2 5 68 90 -22 E
5 Colbourne 6 1 5 55 85 -30 E

*- Tiebreak between The Deadly Irish and Myedvedeya will come down to overall GD if necessary. H2H and GD between them is even.

Group B

Taeshan 10-8 Greal
Cassadaigua 11-7 Lovisa

Pos Group B P W L GF GA GD
1 Taeshan 6 6 0 79 39 40 Q
2 Cassadaigua 7 5 2 86 76 10 Q
3 Greal 7 4 3 81 79 2 E
4 Oiseaui 6 1 5 55 80 -25 E
5 Lovisa 6 0 6 43 70 -27 E

*- Cassadaigua holds tiebreak over Greal (+1 GD in H2H matchups; H2H is a 1-1 tie), therefore Cassadaigua has clinched.

Group C

Secristan 13-7 Kjomasasopia
Tocrowkia 11-8 Kura-Pelland

Pos Group C P W L GF GA GD
1 Secristan 6 5 1 78 56 22
2 Sarzonia 6 5 1 85 51 34
3 Kura-Pelland 6 3 3 73 58 15
4 Tocrowkia 7 2 5 57 88 -31 E
5 Kjomasasopia 7 1 6 55 95 -40 E

*- Secristan holds tiebreak over Sarzonia (+2 GD in H2H matchups; H2H is a 1-1 tie)

Sarzonia

13-01-2009, 00:44

Normally, the conference room inside the Chip Moose Lacrosse Stadium in Woodstock was empty after a Slash practice. The players usually finished their practice sessions, showered, dressed in civilian clothes and went to their homes or their hotel rooms.

This time, however, they gathered with the coaching staff in the conference room en masse to watch the match between Kura-Pelland and Tocrowkia. To a man, they fully expected Kura-Pelland to defeat the Reich. After all, Kura-Pelland hosted the inaugural tournament and was expected to battle for one of Group C's two knockout stage berths.

Pizza Hut-delivered pizzas, sodas, buffalo wings, Sarzonian Fried Chicken and other junk food "delicacies" soon made the rounds as players settled in. They figured they'd have a tough go of it after landing in Kura-Pelland and playing a must-win fixture with a spot in the knockouts on the line.

However, when the final whistle sounded and Tocrowkia (2-5) came up with the 11-8 upset of Kura-Pelland, it gave the Slash players a chance to cheer, which they did. An observer not familiar with the mindset of the Slash players would have noticed that the reaction was somewhat subdued. They knew they couldn't take a match against Kura-Pelland for granted despite their 3-3 record.

"Remember, this will have no bearing on how strong a side Kura-Pelland are," Coach Harold Price said, before realising his comment was totally unnecessary. His team had developed a professionalism over the course of this World Cup that prevented them from getting too high after wins or too low after defeats. Sure, they celebrated when they won a thrilling overtime result in Secristan, but when the Millionaires got revenge in front of a sold out crowd at the Moose, as players and supporters called it, they realised each match was its own entity.

Attackman Tim Cole soon pulled up a graphic display of other World Lacrosse Championship results and saw that the teams in Groups A and B already had their playoff fates decided. The only things left for Group A's Dancougar and Newmanistan and Group B's Taeshan and Cassadaigua to settle were final standings.

However, the Newmanistani media outlet's projections of Group C have proven to be spot on. Only the last two teams in Group C have been eliminated from knockout stage participation. However, host nation Secristan (5-1), inaugural WLC hosts Kura-Pelland and newcomers Sarzonia (5-1) are all in play for the knockout stages, a fact not lost on anyone in the conference room.

"If we don't play with the same sort of work rate that characterised our first four matches or our most recent fixture, we'll end up the team on the outside looking in," midfielder Carter Whitlock told Portland Press-Herald special correspondent Larry Bridger, who was also watching the Tocrowkia v. Kura-Pelland match in the conference room. "We're going to play the Kura-Pelland match with the same sort of urgency we expected to before today's results."

Even though Sarzonia likely needs only one win in its final two matches and hosts a dismal Kjomasasopia (1-6) to close out the groups stage, Cole said the team would "do its best" to win both.

"We could be playing for a more favourable knockout stage position," Cole said. "Newmanistan still have to travel to Dancougar in Group 1 and Cassadaigua is surging right now. Taeshan should know better than to take them for granted. If we win both matches and the right chips fall, we could yet win the group and get a first round bye in the knockouts." That remains possible because Secristan travel to Kura-Pelland for the final match of the groups stage.

Sarzonia may yet miss the knockouts. It may have a one-and-done first round appearance. It may yet do more. No one knows that answer yet, but one thing is clear. Lacrosse has gained a stronger foothold in Sarzonia as a result of the Slash's performance.

Ticket sales for the upcoming 2009 Incorporated Lacrosse League season have set new records. Some economists are crediting the improving Sarzonian economy and a more upbeat population after President Jay Tyler took office, but other observers are citing the Slash's success in its first WLC. Midfielder Carter Whitlock said it was "a perfect storm of conditions.

"The economy has something to do with it, yes, but so does our performance here. Sarzonia loves winners and right now, we've been giving them one."

Dancougar

13-01-2009, 01:12

2 Dancougar 6 5 1 94 57 27 Q

(OOC: Should be +37... unless 16-4 is a typo and it should really be 16-14, making it 94/67 -> +27.)

Secristan

13-01-2009, 03:35

(OOC: Should be +37... unless 16-4 is a typo and it should really be 16-14, making it 94/67 -> +27.)

Thanks, fixed. 16-4 is the correct score.

Newmanistan

13-01-2009, 06:30

THE ROCKET REPORT

ROCKETS CLINCH; BEAT BEARS

Pocono City, Newmanistan- This match between Newmanistan and Myedvedeya had been scheduled for Loudon Stadium, but after the events that occurred in Loudon for the football match against Septentrionia, it was moved to Pocono City. There was still a lot of clean up after the riots that took place, and there is still a lot of negative feelings to where it was not seen as a safe place for the Prince to be at the time. That would be Prince Michael of course, the head coach of the lacrosse team. In Pocono City, a governmental type city, support for the Empress is greater and the protests are less. The Rockets next home game against The Deadly Irish, originally scheduled for Southport has also been moved to Pocono City Stadium.

When Newmanistan met Myedvedeya in the first game of the World Lacrosse Championships, the KGB did an excellent job in shutting down middie Kyle Foster, who often is the one who initiates rushes upfield. Foster’s game was considered to be quite poor, and again the Bears seemed to just know how to handle him. Thus, the Rockets didn’t not really have a great first quarter as they tried to adjust to this. They did score twice, with each member of the Capital Connection (Keith Taylor and Curt Farrell) able to score, but with the offense a little out of sync, fans began to wonder if their team was really up for this game or not. Had Myedvedeya been able to open up a big lead here, then the whole complexion of this match would have been different, but the Bears too had trouble scoring. They did get one more then the Rockets did in the first, but the defense looked real strong and Jason Copeland looked up to the challenge. The 3-2 Myedvedeya lead after one didn’t really concern many in the stands as they felt it would just be a matter of time, but it didn’t happen until late in the second quarter. Myedvedeya scored two early goals to go up by three as the Rockets looked to get Kyle Foster in the game. With that not happening, they looked to Michael Kinser to be more that man, and this took a while for the team to get comfortable with, but in the final five minutes of the quarter, you could see the passes getting smoother, and the Rockets offensive cycling getting much better. Matt Knight, who is having his best WLC of his career would be the catalyst for scoring two of the goals that cut the lead to one, and then with just under a minute remaining, a pretty behind the back pass from Taylor to Jason Green completely befuddled the goalie and Green capitalized to be able to tie the game. At halftime, we were tied at five. Not ideal, but it was good enough for no one to really get too worried about it. The defense was playing well and the offense looked as if it was coming to life.

Unlike the basketball games in Tundra Falls, or the football match that got played in Loudon, there was not an overbearing chant amongst those in the stands for their to be a democratic revolution in the Empire, or that the Empress must step down. Perhaps a few people made this point, and there were some pro-football chants, but nothing of a large scale. This is not say that the people of Pocono City support the Empress’ decision, they just are a lot less of vocal about wanting a dramatic response. The Prince could also feel a lot more relaxed about things not pertaining the lacrosse team and focus on his job, which is to lead these guys to a championship in the long term, and in the short to find a way to get the offense going. Kyle Foster was not himself, but since Michael Kinser was doing a pretty good job assuming the role, the Prince would opt to use Foster more in front and behind the net, to set up mainly Taylor and Farrell. This would work to produce some goals as Myedvedeya looked to adjust to this strategy, and in several cases Foster was just used as a decoy. Keith Taylor was especially impressive in the third, scoring three goals, and assisting on two others as the Rockets doubled their first half output in the third quarter. To their credit, the Bears also looked pretty strong in the third as their midfield seemed to do a good job in confusing the Rockets defense. They would score three times themselves to remain in the contest at 10-8 after three. After the Bears closed to within one just three minutes into the fourth quarter, the Rockets went on a sudden scoring rush, scoring four times in a span of 2:53. Another three goals by Keith Taylor, who ended up having eight in the game would put the game away. That’s what the fans were waiting to see, and finally Taylor delivered it. After the match, Keith talked about being in the zone in the second half. He certainly looked like it.

With the win, Newmanistan stands at 6-0 and atop group A. They had officially clinched their playoff spot during their bye day and remain a game over Dancougar, who has also clinched. The powers will collide after pushing aside simple ravens and cardinals of opponents in the final game of the group stage. The Black Wings destroyed The Deadly Irish in other Group A action by the score of 16-4. Things are also settled in Group B where a team actually played Taeshan to within two goals, but Greal needed that win and couldn’t get it, falling 10-8. Taeshan officially clinched with the win. That result also benefitted Cassadaigua, who defeated Lovisa 11-7. Cassadaigua will advance as well. An upset in Group C may have made the picture there a lot clearer as Tocrowkia stunned Kura-Pelland 11-8 and Secristan cruised over Kjomasasopia, 13-7. No one has officially clinched in that group yet, but it’s likely that it’s going to be the Millionaires and the Slash.

Secristan

13-01-2009, 11:15

MILLIONAIRES TOP KJOMASASOPIA

In what might be their last official international appearance, the Kjomasasopian national lacrosse team has not been playing well, and have now fallen to the basement of Group C following their 13-7 loss to our beloved Millionaires in Secristan last night and coupled with a stunning upset of Kura-Pelland by Tocrowkia. The Millionaires are tied for the top spot with Sarzonia's Slash, but have the tiebreaker with them by virtue of having a greater goal differential in the team's two head to head matchups. Both nations boast a victory over the other, each the only time that the other has been defeated. It is looking like that loss though will keep the Group C winner out of the first round bye. Group A and B have undefeated 6-0 teams, and even if both of them lost a game, and they both still have a tough one left on their schedule, they have goal differentials which would probably out do us and Sarzonia. Against Kjomasasopia, improved fourth quarter play was stressed, and the team did a good job this time, allowing only one score by the visitors. Of course, the Kjomasasopian team is not very impressive right now and doesn't really provide the greatest example. Some that attended the game actually were rather disappointed that the Millionaires only won this game by the score of 13-7.

The Secristan Department of Sports is gearing up for the arrival of the advancing teams and the money of their travelling supporters. At this time we would like to remind supporters of the other countries that tickets are not sold on a first come first serve basis and are available only by auction five days before the event.

Dancougar

13-01-2009, 17:00

"Weren't these Irish... more deadly last time?" asked Lisa. She'd just run the score up to 10-1 with the halftime whistle just moments away. The home stands were deserted now except for the fans who had drunken themselves into a stupor. And there were a few towel-waving Dancougarans among that bunch, except they weren't towel-waving so much as they were, oh, passed out.

But they were missing as complete a performance as you'll ever see in a lacrosse game. Kai-Fu had nearly been perfect, although he owed a lot of that to the physical nature of the defense. Even Sally was able to lay one guy out to halt an attack. On the other end, it was all business. Three goals to Rick and Roy, two to Lisa, and Molly and Sterling assisted on each other's. That game looked over in the first quarter when the Wings jumped out 6-0.

"Might this be a good time to play our reserves?" asked Beck. He motioned to the benchful of Spacy Redshirts, who had gotten little screentime in the tournament. "Who knows when they'll come in handy?"

"I'll make some subs for the second half," said Worldly, who was all smiles. "If we can keep this up against Colbourne, we might have an outside shot at a first round bye."

On the field, Dancougar was looking to close out the first half with a strong defensive stand. "Pinpoint Barrier!" called Kai-Fu. Immediately the team formed up. They had learned a few things from the Newmanistan game after seeing how easily the Rockets had used off-the-ball movement to set up easy shots outside their perimeter. Kai-Fu barked orders to his defense and was able to direct their movement, and when the Irish gave up trying to penetrate, he simply yelled, "Break!" The team returned to its man-to-man marking and caught the Irish off guard. Kamjin threw a body check and recovered the ball, sending it upfield as the referee blew this whistle for halftime.

Slowly but surely, Worldly withdrew his starters. The Spacy Redshirts which he'd sent in looked a little overworked at first, allowing the lead to close to 10-3, before Roy added two goals before being brought off. The end result: a 16-4 demolition.

**********

"Let's keep it up!" cheered Roy as the team hopped on the bus. "We take care of business at home, and we can still take the group!"

"All right, all right, we know you all want the Rockets," said Samantha. "But focus on Colbourne! You saw what happened to the football team against them, right?"

"Sure, sure," Roy replied. "When word about this one gets out, we might have some fans for the next one."

"About that," said Sterling. "So, it's true that May has been doing an amazing job recruiting support, but we need to take care of some of that ourselves."

"Understandable," said Worldly. "What would you suggest?"

"A challenge cup with the Rockets," Sterling replied. "Similar to the Bird on Skates. Only this one we'll call the Bird in Pads."

"Not following you..." said Worldly.

"Okay, so, the last two games for each of us are just for placement. We already know we're going to Secristan," Sterling began. "And we know the last game against each other is even more important from that standpoint. But the casual fans that May is bringing in aren't going to care about that. They want excitement. They want something to pull for."

"Hence, a cup," Worldly replied. "I see what you're getting at. If the fans see that there's something physically on the line, it'll serve to rile them up."

"That goes for the Rockets as well, I suppose, but that will just improve that atmosphere," Sterling continued. "Fact is, we need this kind of exposure."

"All right, so we'll propose a Bird in Pads," Worldly said. "Although what exactly is the point of it?"

"We paint it red and purple," Sterling began, "and the winning team gets to burn it!" Everyone on the bus just stared at him. "Whaaaaat?"

"I fail to see why this is desired," Rick said. "Isn't the point of a challenge cup to retain it?"

"And future competitions over the remains would be silly," Beck continued. "I mean... we would be playing for, what, the ashes? Who would ever care about the ashes?"

"I mean, it would just be a cheapo thing" Sterling said, shrugging his shoulders. "Almost like a voodoo doll, say. You dress it up, paint it in the hated colors, and the winning team wins the honor of burning it to appease their own sporting... randomness... deity?"

"I guess as a bonus, we could paint ours green after we win it, and they could, eh, dump ketchup on it if they do," added Layla.

Worldly put his hand to his forehead. "It can't hurt, I guess," he said. "But you guys are weird."

Taeshan

13-01-2009, 21:56

Flaming Falcons Past Test As They Defeat Greal

The Greali team almost made last nights game close, almost. The fianl score was 10-8, and the Grealiens came within two points of being the only team to defeat the Falcons so far in this tournament, but they didn't so are record is still unscathed. The game was also only close because most of the Taeshani starters were already resting up for the second roun d because it didn't look like they were gonna lose every game and not qualify.

Secristan

13-01-2009, 23:50

MD9 RP Cutoff!

Group A

Newmanistan 16-9 The Deadly Irish
Dancougar 13-6 Colbourne

Pos Group A P W L GF GA GD
1 Newmanistan 7 7 0 102 65 37 Q
2 Dancougar 7 6 1 107 63 44 Q
3 Myedvedeya 7 2 5 68 90 -22 E
4 The Deadly Irish 8 2 6 80 102 -22 E
5 Colbourne 7 1 6 61 98 -37 E

*- Tiebreak between The Deadly Irish and Myedvedeya will come down to overall GD if necessary. H2H and GD between them is even.

Group B

Taeshan 11-8 Cassadaigua
Lovisa 14-13 (OT) Oiseaui

Pos Group B P W L GF GA GD
1 Taeshan 7 7 0 90 47 43 Q
2 Cassadaigua 8 5 3 94 87 7 Q
3 Greal 7 4 3 81 79 2 E
4 Oiseaui 7 1 6 68 94 -26 E
5 Lovisa 7 1 6 57 83 -26 E

*- Cassadaigua holds tiebreak over Greal (+1 GD in H2H matchups; H2H is a 1-1 tie), therefore Cassadaigua has clinched.

Group C

Secristan 12-8 Tocrowkia
Kura-Pelland 6-12 Sarzonia

Pos Group C P W L GF GA GD
1 Secristan 7 6 1 90 64 26 Q
2 Sarzonia 7 6 1 97 57 40 Q
3 Kura-Pelland 7 3 4 79 70 9 E
4 Tocrowkia 8 2 6 65 100 -35 E
5 Kjomasasopia 7 1 6 55 95 -40 E

*- Secristan holds tiebreak over Sarzonia (+2 GD in H2H matchups; H2H is a 1-1 tie)

Newmanistan

14-01-2009, 05:59

(After the match with The not so Deadly Irish)

Prince: Good job guys, that’s seven wins in seven games. One more for perfection.

Taylor: We all saw what the perfect group stage did for us in the last World Lacrosse Championships, right.

Green: Dude, stop being such a downer.

Foster: That game was boring. If Newmanistan put together a B team and a C team they would have crushed half this group too.

Farrell: Really, what have we accomplished with our 7-0 record? Other then Dancougar, these other countries in the group just seem like they piece together a group of enthusiasts and then try to take their shot or something.

Prince: Let’s not get too complacent.

Farrell: It’s not about being complacent coach, it’s just that in lacrosse there is a huge gap between the haves and the have nots. Of course we’ll be up for Dancougar because it’s the only opponent right now that should remotely concern this.

Taylor: You know I get this letter that Dancougar wants to put together a challenge cup in Lacrosse. Some kind of Bird in Pads, although it seems very weird to me.

Foster: What is it with us, Dancougar, and Bird trophies?

Prince: A Challenge Cup with Dancougar does nothing for us. Does everything for them.

Taylor: Oh stop. Birds are symbolic between our countries. No matter if we’re talking about strong ravens or didn’t they used to suck cardinals, there is always that tradition. If we win, we can paint the trophy red and burn it. Then fly like an eagle. Fly Rockets, Fly!

Farrell: The Prince is right though, we have nothing to gain from this.

Foster: Curt, the trophy may be pointless. But anything to give us something to play for in what may seem like not that an important of a game. The first round bye could be at stake here.

Green: As long as we don’t lose by more then two we still finish first, right?

Prince: That is true but remember what happened in the Cassadaigua vs Greal match. Greal just didn’t have to lose by more then two, and what did they do, they gave up a goal in the final second to lose that game by three. There is no comfort zone, we play to win.

Green: Oh I know, I was just saying.

Prince: You know what, let’s do the Bird in Pads thing. I think we could use the spark in this match, especially if they are looking for something, it tells me that they already have it.

Foster: Fine with me.

Sarzonia

14-01-2009, 16:19

Portland Press-Herald

Slash clinches spot in Secristan

By Larry Bridger
Press-Herald Staff Writer

KURA-PELLAND -- A match that was billed as a referendum on whether the Sarzonian national lacrosse side could fight through a tough Group C and qualify took a turn for the anti-climatic.

In an away fixture against the hosts of the inaugural World Lacrosse Championships, the Slash came expecting a dogfight. They ended up dominating the match, winning 12-6 to book a trip to Secristan and eliminate Kura-Pelland from knockout stage contention.

"We prepared for this match about as well as we prepared for any of our matches," said Slash coach Harold Price. "We were absolutely motivated to play this match, and we played like a team that's somewhat rounding into form."

Sarzonia (6-1) now faces a final match away to bottom feeders Kjomasasopia while host nation Secristan plays away to Kura-Pelland. While many prognosticators expected the Secristan-Kura-Pelland fixture to possibly decide whether a new lacrosse nation could crash the party in a group easily considered the toughest in the tournament, Kura-Pelland (3-4) have fallen on difficult times in the latter portion of the groups stage. They lost to Tocrowkia, a side that was eliminated from knockout stage contention after Matchday 8.

"I'm not sure why it is that they're in such poor form," said midfielder Carter Whitlock of Kura-Pelland. "All we know is we played a tough match against them at [Chip Moose Lacrosse Stadium in Woodstock] and they played the way they were expected to for most of the tournament."

Price said he hoped the team play the final groups stage match against Kjomasasopia as if a knockout stage berth depended on it.

"We are still in contention for the group title," Price said. "If Kura-Pelland defeat Secristan and if Dancougar defeat Newmanistan, we could still earn a bye into the semifinals. So we definitely have something to play for in this final match."

Fellow lacrosse newcomers Cassadaigua (5-3) also would have had something to play for if they hadn't finished their schedule. They clinched a place in Secristan for the knockout stages due to a tiebreaker over Greal (4-3), who host 1-6 Oiseaui.

Taeshan (7-0) host Lovisa, who became the final team in the tournament to win a match, defeating Oiseaui 14-13 in overtime. As for the Slash, they said they're not going to watch any of the other matches after they play Kjomasasopia.

"We can only control what we do," said attackman Tim Cole. "We don't worry about the matches we can't control."

Dancougar

14-01-2009, 20:54

"Zoom zoom, zoom zoom! The boy I hold in my heart loves to play a game!" The crowd cheered as the halftime show kicked off. May made no secret of the fact that she was going to be at the game and would perform. As a result, attendance had skyrocketed compared to the previous two home matches. Now, they had people crowding around the touchline in addition to filling the bleachers. Exactly how many planned to stick around after the show was still an open question.

But they were making progress. The Wings had treated the newcomers to a show in the first half, running up a 7-4 lead over Colbourne. The offense had hit a few bumps at the beginning, but aside from going down 1-0 in the first three minutes, they hadn't trailed. Rick had a goal and three assists, with Lisa leading all scorers with a first-half hat trick. She was playing with a fire that Worldly hadn't seen in previous games.

"... Defense or not, with all he's got, so the crowd will cheer!" Ah yes, the defense was giving the crowd plenty of reasons to ooooh and aaaah. Kamjin had a group that chanted his name every time he made a clean hit, and that seemed to fuel him irrespective of anything he said about playing for himself. But Colbourne was not going down quietly. They'd fought back at the end to make it a three-point game. If that momentum continued, they would deny the Wings a chance at holding an opponent to single digits for the third straight game.

"I love you, you love me! But when I'm there in the stands he won't see me, with all his focus on his man and not on his girl..."

In the locker room, the Wings were in a good mood. There was even a rumor going around that they were going to try and update their facilities before the Newmanistan game. Better yet, if they kept their lead, it would set up a do-or-die final match with Newmanistan, where a win by two goals might be enough to steal the group.

Rick gave Lisa a high five as he walked over to his locker. "Hey, I don't know where all those goals came from, but keep it up!"

Lisa feigned laughter. "I was just biding my time, young one," she teased. "Just when they think you and Roy are the only threats... I strike!" She was happy. Even though they could hear the concert outside, Rick's attention was on her accomplishment on the field. Happily for her, then, Worldly called the players into a huddle to talk strategy for the second half, so Rick wouldn't have the opportunity to let his mind wander to May.

"All right, team, I've just heard back from Newmanistan," said Worldly. "They beat the Irish earlier today to stay perfect, so we need to finish the job here to get an opening."

"No worries, coach," said Roy. "We got us some motivation. See, all those people out there, a lot are seeing lacrosse for the first time. Some might even like it. We need to give them a reason to stick around."

"In that case, here's more motivation for you," Worldly continued. "The Bird in Pads is on! The prince didn't sound too enthusiastic, but he agreed to it. Now it's on you guys to produce. By coming up with this trophy, you're exuding confidence that they're going to want to prove is misplaced."

"That's all right, it helps the fans get into it, too," said Sterling. "Look, even if they don't know lacrosse, everyone knows Newmanistan. The fans like the rivalry. They get into it. And this just sweetens the pot for them. The football team lost their cup, so let's be the ones who get it!"

The Wings came out of the locker room energized and were happy to see a lot of the fans had stuck around, even cheering them as they burst onto the pitch. May walked over to Rick and threw him a smile. "Coach asked me to mention the Bird in Pads," she said. "The fans approve."

Lisa jogged past and grabbed Rick. "Then let's win this!"

Two quick goals put the Wings up by five and stood at 11-5 as the third quarter came to a close. By now, everyone was looking ahead to that final group game with the Rockets. Win or lose, they were going to give everything before the trip to Secristan. The Spacy Redshirts came in to close out the game. The final stood at 13-6, but the way the team was conducting itself after the match and responding to the fans, one had to think... they really did need this. They were only going to get so far just playing to prove to themselves that, hey, we're half decent at this.

Bird in Pads!

Taeshan

14-01-2009, 21:41

Flaming Falcons Smoke Cassadaigua

Yesterday the Falcons took on the likes of Cassadaigua. They won easily 11-8. Rowan Qwarant scored 6 goals, William Kwlly netted 3, and Seth Thatcher and Piers Fohneger each attained one. Next up is Lovisa, and after that most likely a buy game before playoffs.

Secristan

14-01-2009, 23:18

MD10 RP Cutoff! We've reached the end of the group stage!

Group A

Dancougar 13-12 Newmanistan
Myedvedeya 13-9 Colbourne

Pos Group A P W L GF GA GD
1 Newmanistan 8 7 1 114 78 36 Q
2 Dancougar 8 7 1 120 75 45 Q
3 Myedvedeya 8 3 5 81 99 -18 E
4 The Deadly Irish 8 2 6 80 102 -22 E
5 Colbourne 8 1 7 70 111 -41 E

*- Newmanistan wins tiebreak over Dancougar due to +1 GD in H2H matchups. H2H between them was split 1-1.

Group B

Taeshan 9-5 Lovisa
Greal 15-7 Oiseaui

Pos Group B P W L GF GA GD
1 Taeshan 8 8 0 99 52 47 Q
2 Cassadaigua 8 5 3 94 87 7 Q
3 Greal 8 5 3 96 86 10 E
4 Oiseaui 8 1 7 75 109 -34 E
5 Lovisa 8 1 7 62 92 -30 E

*- Cassadaigua holds tiebreak over Greal (+1 GD in H2H matchups; H2H is a 1-1 tie), therefore Cassadaigua has clinched.
- Oiseaui held tiebreak over Lovisa also for +GD in H2H.

Group C

Kura-Pelland 12-16 Secristan
Kjomasasopia 5-13 Sarzonia

Pos Group C P W L GF GA GD
1 Secristan 8 7 1 106 76 30 Q
2 Sarzonia 8 7 1 110 62 48 Q
3 Kura-Pelland 8 3 5 91 86 5 E
4 Tocrowkia 8 2 6 65 100 -35 E
5 Kjomasasopia 8 1 7 60 108 -48 E

*- Secristan holds tiebreak over Sarzonia (+2 GD in H2H matchups; H2H is a 1-1 tie)

Congratulations to the six teams that have advanced to Secristan for knockouts and thanks everyone for participating. Here are the matchups! First round knockouts will be played on Friday.

(1) Taeshan- Bye
(2) Newmanistan- Bye

First Round:
(3) Secristan vs (6) Cassadaigua @ Loophole Life Insurance Stadium, Lakeland
(4) Dancougar vs (5) Sarzonia @ Monopoly Stadium, Amherst

Semifinal
(1) Taeshan vs Dancougar/Sarzonia winner
(2) Newmanistan vs Secristan/Cassadaigua winner

Sarzonia

15-01-2009, 04:29

Portland Press-Herald

Slash wrap up group stage, await Dancougar

By Larry Bridger
Press-Herald Staff Writer

KJOMASASOPIA -- And then there were six.

Sarzonia wrapped up the group stage with an easy 13-5 win over hapless Kjomasasopia to earn a second place finish in Group C of the World Lacrosse Championships. With a 7-1 record, Sarzonia were level with three of the five remaining sides in the knockouts.

Only Taeshan (8-0) and Cassadaigua (5-3) sport records other than 7-1 among the teams still alive. Due to overall goals scored, Sarzonia finish as the No. 5 seed and face No. 4 seed Dancougar at Monopoly Stadium in Amherst. Sarzonia finished third in the tournament in goals scored and only Taeshan conceded fewer goals than Sarzonia's 62.

"We wanted to take every match one at a time," said Coach Harold Price. "We felt we did a good job of that. Now we have an epic challenge on our hands."

Dancougar finished the groups stage with a stirring 13-12 win over Newmanistan, depriving the Rockets of an undefeated season. However, since Newmanistan own the advantage in goal difference against Dancougar, the Rockets still earn one of two byes into the semifinals.

Attackman Tim Cole said the team wasn't worried about not having a bye into the semifinals.

"We had a bye prior to the Kura-Pelland match," Cole said. "At this point, we like the idea of continuing to have momentum heading into the knockouts. We feel playing now is the best way for us to continue to build that momentum."

The other quarterfinal match pits Cassadaigua (5-3) against Group C winners Secristan. Cole said Cassadaigua had momentum, but added that Secristan was a tough side.

"They only have one overtime loss in eight groups stage matches," Cole said. "That said, Cassadaigua had to fight to advance into the knockouts. Having the bye on Matchday 10 probably does them a huge favour."

To a man, the Slash players and coaches won't predict the outcome of the quarterfinal match against Dancougar, but Price said the team looked forward to a great match.

"It will probably be one for the ages," Price said. "We haven't faced Dancougar before; it should be a fun match to watch."

Newmanistan

15-01-2009, 04:54

THE ROCKET REPORT

LOSS DOESN’T PREVENT BYE

Dancougar- There will be no perfect group stage record for the Rockets this time as they dropped their final game of qualifying, 13-12 to Dancougar on the road. It is the first time that Newmanistan has been defeated by the famous rival, and it allows the Black Wings to claim the Bird in Pads trophy. The Bird in Pads, a symbolic challenge Cup painted an unusual color combination of red and purple was at stake to give the teams that had already qualified for the knockouts a little added inspiration. By winning the game, Dancougar will paint the trophy purple and burn it. Why they chose such a ravenous color, we are unsure, but they seemed to be happy about it. The good news is that this loss does not prevent that Rockets from earning the first round bye, and it’s likely that had they also gone 8-0, that they still would have been behind Taeshan on goal differential anyway. Dancougar needed to beat the Rockets by at least three to claim the tiebreaker. Newmanistan will now enjoy time off and await the winner Secristan vs Cassadaigua. Meanwhile two other teams will see why a first round bye would have been nice as Dancougar takes on Sarzonia.

Known for the unusual formations, the Black Wings began the game in a more conventional mode, and as much as we might not like to admit it, this team is now at our level. If we recall the game at the Proving Grounds that went back and forth and required fantastic play in goal by Jason Copeland in the fourth quarter to allow the Rockets to win by a pair of goals, well this game would start out no different. Again, the Black Wings seemed to keep their focus on containing the Capital Connection of Keith Taylor and Curtis Farrell, while also being aware that Kyle Foster had been slumping over the last few games, so Bruno Worldly challenged Foster to have to break out of it by allowing him more space. The Rockets seemed a little frustrated by this, and did not score until after Dancougar found the back of the net twice, and after the first quarter of play, Dancougar was up by the score of 4-2. We hadn’t seen Daedalus yet, and already down by two goals that wasn’t a good thing. We would see this formation however, very early in the second, however, it would be by the sky blue and white. The Rockets were going to try this? I guess after watching it on tape trying to determine how to defend it, and then working on that defense in practice, it could create that feeling of wanting to see if we could do it too. Keith Taylor would be the ball carrier until a clever behind the back pass found a spring Jason Green along the left side and Green buried it to make it 4-3. The Black Wings were caught off guard and perhaps between being stunned that their opponent would do that, and being offended that they would. So Dancougar had to respond to this in only one way, by showing that they could do it better. And they did. Roy de Havilland gets the goal to make it 5-3. For a brief moment, tempers seemed to flare up, leading to several rough penalties, but no actual fights or anything of that sort. Newmanistan would only go to Daedalus that one time in the game, and at halftime, they were only trailing by a single goal, 6-5.

At the break, Prince Michael was not all that pleased with the effort of the team on offense, feeling that the team needed to take advantage of weak defender Sally LaClaudia a little more and for Matt Knight to be the one to do this. However Knight seemed to have gotten on friendly terms with LaClaudia and didn’t really want to push her around. We are not sure if this had anything to do with a wicked two-handed slash that the normally cool-headed Roy de Havilland put on Knight with one minute to go in the first half. Kyle Foster would need to play better, and the Captial Connection would have to start scoring. As the third quarter went on, the Prince was provided more fodder for his anger as the Black Wings opened up a 10-5 advantage. De Havilland got his focus back on the game, but the player the Rockets seemed to struggle with the most, especially when they came out in the Daedalus Attack formation several times in the quarter was Rick Gatherer. He was able to get underneath the defensive coverage three times in this formation and pick up a quick hat trick for himself. Up by five goals, you could see the Black Wings playing with a load of confidence, they knew that had established themselves as a good lacrosse playing nation, but a win over Newmanistan is the big one they were looking for. The Rockets closed out the quarter fairly well as Kyle Foster finally got in his groove and picked up three assists, two of them on goals by Curtis Farrell, and the other by Knight, and despite a Dancougar score mixed in, we were 11-8 after three, and just possibly the Rockets were going to mount a comeback. The effort continued in the third corner as Worldly tried to make a tactical switch to defend Foster tougher. This led to more opportunities for Taylor and Farrell, as well as Michael Kinser, who was the biggest beneficiary. Newmanistan came all the way back to tie the match at 11, and suddenly a Bird in Pads looked like it might end up all red after all. A goal by Matt Knight gave Newmanistan their first lead of the game, 12-11, with 3:14 left to play. But Dancougar would not give in. Some impressive ball handling skills by Sterling Jenius led to a tying goal as he somehow got a pass in to Lisa Hayase between two defenders, and Lisa also made a nice play to get the shot behind Copeland to tie it up. Newmanistan tried to answer, but Kai-Fu Linn would have none of it. He was given this second chance to avoid being the goat of “how did we blow the lead” to being the one to make the last minute stops, and he took advantage of it. With 33 seconds left, Dancougar won the game on a shot by Gatherer, but needed a late save by Linn to preserve the victory. It’s a win that probably does more for the psyche of Dancougar then it does against Newmanistan’s. Both teams will finish off the group stage with 7-1 records.

Elsewhere in Group A, Myedvedeya gets the third spot after defeating Colbourne 13-9. In Group B, Taeshan ends up the only team able to go 8-0 in group play, looking very strong in their effort to defend their title. They were 9-5 winners over Lovisa while Greal, despite having nothing to play for other then pride, made sure to beat Oiseaui as good as they good, taking the game 15-8. In Group C, you can give Kura-Pelland the most disappointing team award as they never put up a fight in this group, falling to 3-5 after being beaten by Secristan 16-12, while Sarzonia defeated Kjomasasopia 13-5 in what might have been the last ever international game for the losing nation in any sport.

Sarzonia

15-01-2009, 16:37

"Hello, everyone, I'm Matt Quinn, and I'll be your host for Lacrosse Hour, sponsored by the Woodstock Tourism Board, Estrella Motor Cars and the Portland Iron Works.

"On the telephone, we have Sarzonia Slash coach Harold Price and midfielder Carter Whitlock. Good to have you with us, gentlemen."

"Thanks, Matt," Price said.

"It's good to be here," Whitlock said.

"Let's start with the pre-tournament predictions put out by Newmanistani media," Quinn said. "Starting with Group A, he projected Newmanistan would win it with a 7-1 record and Dancougar would come in second at 6-2. The actual results, as you see here [as a graphic displays the Group A standings] show both teams with a 7-1 record, but Newmanistan won the group as predicted. Your thoughts?"

"Well," Price began. "Both Newmanistan and Dancougar have taken part in the previous World Lacrosse Championships, so there's definitely some history there. It doesn't surprise me that those two teams would go through to the knockouts in Secristan. We've seen some teams that have surprised and some that have disappointed. That's to be expected in any international competition."

"I agree," Whitlock said. "What strikes me about these predictions is how close they are to being what actually happened to this point. Obviously, there's some insight into how this tournament would unfold. But having said that, Dancougar is going to present us a major challenge since we face them in the quarterfinals."

"Interesting point," Quinn said. "Now, checking Group B, here's where things get a little tricky. Taeshan won the group, but instead of having a 6-2 record and being forced to play in the quarterfinals, they finished the group with a perfect 8-0 mark and have a bye into the semifinals. Also, new lacrosse nation Cassadaigua beat out Greal for the spot in the knockouts. Your thoughts on that?"

"Cassadaigua have a good work rate," Whitlock said. "We've been impressed with their past few games. They're arguably the hottest team in the tournament after their slow start. Taeshan, what can you say about them? They're the only unbeaten side in this tournament. But like they say in gridball all the time, once you get to the playoffs, everyone's 0-0."

"Taeshan obviously have done some things right to go 8-0 in group play," Price said. "That said, I'm glad we don't have to face Cassadaigua in the first round. They won some vital matches they had to win to get to the knockouts. Essentially, every one of their matches to close out groups has been a playoff match. They'll be battle-tested. They'll probably give Secristan a battle."

"I'm sure they will," Quinn said. "Finally, talk about Group C. Newmanistan called it right, they predicted you and Secristan would go through to the knockout stages ahead of Kura-Pelland, who have to be the disappointment of the tournament."

"Honestly, I'm not sure what happened to Kura-Pelland," Price said. "They really fell into bad form at the worst possible time. They finished group play with a three-match losing streak that killed their chances of doing anything."

"I think their loss to Tocrowkia really killed it for them," Quinn said. "They were in contention, then that loss really seemed to deflate them."

"Yeah," Whitlock said. "We and Secristan both played well throughout the tournament. In fact, our only loss thus far was home to Secristan."

"And their only loss was home to Sarzonia in overtime."

"Yeah," Whitlock said. "They're going into the tournament on a five-match winning streak, so they'll certainly be ready to go against Cassadaigua."

"Any thoughts about having to play a quarterfinals match rather than be one of the two teams who have earned a bye into the semifinals?"

"I don't know if getting a bye would be to our advantage," Whitlock said. "I think we've been rounding into form over the past few matches and I think we're at a point now where we probably gain more from playing than we would from getting that match off. And, we did get a bye on Matchday 8, so it's not like we've played a lot of matches in a row."

"If we had the bye, I'd be concerned about losing our edge," Price said. "I think we're at a point now where we have a good rhythm going. I like where we are in terms of our preparation."

"All right, predictions for the upcoming matches? First, Cassdaigua v. Secristan?"

"I think that's going to be a close match, down to the wire," Price said. "I think Secristan's experience and the fact playing in front of their home supporters give them the edge over Cassadaigua."

"Cassadaigua are a good team," Whitlock said. "I think Secristan are probably a little better. The fact they're at home gives them an important edge in the first round.

"Now what about your match with Dancougar?"

"I think it'll be a great match, that's all I'm going to say about it," Price said. "I don't want to get into predictions and all that with that match staring at us."

"Agreed," Whitlock said. "Let's just leave it at that."

"No matter who wins," Quinn said, "what are you guys going to take away from this tournament?"

"The fact we can be a lacrosse country," Whitlock said. "We've gotten tremendous support from our supporters during this tournament, and that's been pointing to dramatically increasing interest in the sport within Sarzonia."

"I think if you combine that with Sarzonia's success in the Qazoxian Winter Sports Festival, you can say Sarzonia is becoming a strong sporting nation, not just a football nation," Price said. "We certainly have done our part to advance the sport of lacrosse within Sarzonia. We hope to be able to take Sarzonia to the next level."

"That's all the time we have," Quinn said. "Thank you Coach Price."

"Thanks, Matt."

"And thank you Carter Whitlock, and best of luck to you both."

"Thank you, Matt."

"I'm Matt Quinn, and you've been watching Lacrosse Hour."

Cassadaigua

15-01-2009, 16:52

Ashley's Blog

We have 8-0 Taeshan. Everyone else is 7-1. Except well, that 5-3 team. The brackets for knockouts in Secristan have been drawn up, and despite having lost more then one game during the group stage we are excited about this. Our opponent is Secristan which is going to make it tough for alot of our supports to make the trip. You have to bid on tickets in order to attend matches in that country, and Dagans that have the website all loaded up to place their bids are probably going to find things pretty expensive. Secristanis are going to be very excited about this game in their country, so visiting fans will have to dig deep into their wallets. I'm not sure if this makes matters better or worse for our fans. If it was first come first serve like it is in just about every other country in the world, then Dagans probably wouldn't be able to get anything. At least this way, there is an opportunity. Good luck with your bidding.

I have never been to Secristan and I am pretty excited about going there. We have heard a lot about it, the huge gap between rich and poor, but unlike nations with social welfare policies, their upper class elects to spit on their less fortunate. As a professional athlete, I am what would be considered upper class so I am wondering how I'll be treated. I have heard that as long as you have money you are welcomed there but it's going to be hard for me to see the other side, the poor and struggling families. There is a history between us and Secristan, but this is going to be the first meeting between us that does not take place on a neutral field. We think that the hostilities that existed from Baptism of Fire 30 have died out, and if they haven't won't be something to apply here since that was soccer and this is something different. We come into this game as a considerable underdog, and most media outlets outside of the country do not want to give us a chance. We don't belong here, they say. Four 7-1 teams, one 8-0. You 5-3 losers have no chance, especially when you have to play the host country in the first round. We don't see it that way like I said. We are confident because we feel as though we have played our best lacrosse in the second half of the tournament. We avenged one of our losses by getting a key three goal win over Greal when we had to win by more then two. The other losses were to Taeshan, but the second time we played them, and in Taeshan, we stayed in that game much better and we do think we could beat them if we were to play again. The Millionaires will be strong, but maybe we can catch them looking past us and towards their next opponent as Newmanistan awaits the winner of our game. What I do know is that we aren't just about to give in just because we're that 5-3 team.

Dancougar

15-01-2009, 22:32

Locker rooms with running water, fresh flooring, and even new benches! It felt like the jackpot for the Wings, although they suspected the Rockets were feeling underwhelmed over in theirs. Nevertheless, turnout seemed to be good. There was just no denying that the Rockets could sell tickets. The team took to the field to cheers, while the Rockets were greeting with chants of "Bird in Pads, Bird in Pads!" from the stands. Prince Michael didn't even pay them any attention. His focus was on winning the game at hand, not on some ridiculous challenge the upstart Wings had pushed at them.

But early on, it looked like the momentum was with the Wings. Rick and Lisa hooked up for the first goal of the game and she returned the favor for the second while the Newmanistan offense struggled with the defensive assignments. Sally was once again singled out as being the weak defender, but rather than try to match Kamjin and Layla for physicality, she played loosely on Kyle Foster and forced him to make a play. With his passing and shooting lanes restricted by the zone, Foster was hard-pressed to make a play, but Keith Taylor eventually broke free to receive a pass, which he converted for 2-1.

It was 3-2 as the Wings continued a conventional attack. Lisa to Rick... no, wait, he let the ball fly straight past him! Instead, he feinted with his crosse and the pass met the oncoming Sterling Jenius, who had a free look at goal. That was four. Things were looking good.

"Let's keep this up!" encouraged Samantha from the sideline. Michael remained calm on the other bench. He whistled to his team and sent them a signal. "Eh, what do you suppose they're up to?"

As soon as Newmanistan won the ball, they worked it into the midfield. The three midfielders linked up and advanced forward as a line. The attackmen were clumped just past their restraining line, waiting for... "No way!!" cried Sally. "That's..."

"Daedalus..." murmured Lisa, away from the play.

"ATTACK!!!" finished Taylor, as he spearheaded the effort. The Sterling and Molly ran back to try and cut them off while Kamjin and the defense tried to find a rally point. They looked completely lost.

"What's going on?" cried Worldly. "They're using it against us?"

"It seems that they've spent a lot of time studying that play," Beck responded, "and in doing so, have determined that their players can execute it, as well."

A bead of sweat ran down Worldly's face. "How could that be?" Taylor received the ball in the pack and got it to green before the defense could counter, easily beating Kai-Fu to cut the lead to 4-3. The crowd was stunned, but Worldly snapped out of it. "They're challenging us!" he declared. "In that case..."

His team was already ahead of him. On their next possession, they formed up as expected. The Rockets anticipated the play and were ready. As they got into the attacking zone, the Rocket defense plowed into the side of the formation attempting to knock the ball towards the sideline, and in one swoop take out half of the Wings. But Roy, at the head of the pack, was actually the one with the ball, and he sprinted free just as the contact was made. He scored to restore the two-point cushion, but Rick got up and angrily shoved Matt Knight.

"What kind of play is that, none of us had the ball!" he shouted. The referee quickly blew the whistle to prevent a scuffle from developing, as several players were already sparring verbally.

"Sixty seconds, unsportsmanlike!" he said, motioning for Rick to stand out of the pack. "Contact was within five yards of the ball, all legal!" Rick mumbled as he went to have a seat. So it seemed like the gimmicks were going to have to stop for the time being, since both knew exactly what the other was doing. The Wings were trying hard to avoid being surprised again, but that helped the Rockets. They would fake the formation in order to force the Dancougar defenders to overcommit to the play.

Sally remained in her zone, and eventually Prince Michael got fed up with trying to break through Kamjin. He had Knight join the assault on her side. At one point, the ball came wide and Sally was forced to either commit to Knight or give him space for a pass or shot. She saw Sterling coming in behind her to cover Foster, so she went after the ballcarrier. She was able to force Knight behind the goal and eventually jar the ball loose, but the two went down in a tangled heap. He popped up after a moment, while she just sat up to catch her breath.

From a distance, Roy watched Knight help Sally to her feet. "Heh, chivalry lives on, even in oppos..." Then he watched Knight give her a pat on the rear before jogging back to his position. Admiration turned to anger. "He... no, he didn't. Ooooh, you sneaky bastard... Hey, Sterling, play up for a bit!" Roy took Sterling's position in the midfield and keyed on Knight the moment he got the ball again. Now he tried to jar it loose, too, except he did it with extreme prejudice. The referee pulled him aside and he'd spend the rest of the half in the box.

In the locker room, Sally gave him a whack to the back of the head. "Idiot, what were you doing?"

"... Defending your honor?" Roy grinned.

"How about you defend my honor by torching Copeland?" Sally replied. Roy decided it was best not to argue, so he rallied the offense to a five-goal lead in the third quarter. He accounted for two goals, but was more instrumental in getting the Daedalus flying again. The Rockets had figured out how to counter it by engaging the players closest to the ball and collapsing the formation on itself, but Roy suggested to Misa that they loosen it up a bit so the defenders would shoot through the gaps. It did make exchanging the ball more difficult, but the chemistry of Rick and the others somehow made it work. This made the Rockets more apprehensive about charging in, and that allowed Rick to pile up a hat trick.

But could the Rockets really be counted out of this one? Even as the lead ran up to five, Worldly was waiting for Prince Michael to make the crucial adjustment. But he just paced the sidelines barking the usual lines to his players. I guess... this is the management of a team that's unbeaten... Worldly thought. The players know how to find a way back, huh?

The Rockets remembered how in the first game, the pace was what did the Wings in. Dancougar was so concerned with matching them step for step and getting a breakout that they tired themselves out, allowing the Rockets to earn and maintain the two-goal victory. Now, they went back to it. Kamjin was trying to keep Taylor in his sights, but he couldn't keep him bottled up forever. And in those brief moments where he broke free, there was Foster controlling the ball with ample space afforded by Sally. Pass, shot, goal. Curtis Farrell also had an explosive third quarter, as he mirrored Taylor's efforts on Layla and also received some of Foster's assistance.

The score stood 11-8 and Kamjin was doubled over trying to catch his breath. Layla walked over. "So... I guess we should... maybe... stop trying to hit everyone?"

"Idiot, it's times like these when we NEED to hit someone!" Kamjin replied.

"Sterling and Molly are... having to pick up our slack, but they... they can't keep covering the entire field..." Layla couldn't get through the big lug in the middle.

"Hey, coach," Kamjin said. "Get Sally out of that zone. It's not working."

"I agree that Foster's being allowed too much space to operate," said Worldly, "but if you played less aggressively, you'd have an easier time defending those passes."

"So you want us to do Pinpoint?" asked Kamjin. "That worked pretty well last time, right?" He spat on the ground and clenched his fist. "We can do this. Make the switch."

Worldly wasn't going to argue with those eyes. He turned to Sally. "Go back to man defense," he said. "Close him down."

Prince Michael had to be happy when he saw the shift in defense, because knew Foster would break through now. Sally made it hard on him, but he was still able to find space for clutch passes. One goal, then two. The crowd was falling eerily silent as Kai-Fu turned aside about as many shots as he let in. The defense had just given up on him. Worldly knew it was too late to switch back; all he could do now was rely on the midfield to help out, which would isolate his forwards and reduce their chances of matching the Rockets' scoring pace. At 12-11, it was panic time. Worldly called a time out.

As they discussed what to do, the confidence cheers on the Newmanistan bench and from their pockets of fans were disconcerting. There was still plenty of time left in the game, but not with the momentum the way it was. Something had to turn the tide for them.

From the stands, a voice.

"Zoom zoom, zoom zoom!"

Rick's ear's perked up. "That's..." he began.

"The boy I hold in my heart loves to play a game!" It wasn't May, no, some random fan had just started to sing it. But it was spreading. The rest of the person's row picked it up with some clapping and foot stomps, and then it hit the rest of the stand. Soon, the entire Dancougar section was in full voice. "Defense or not, with all he's got, so the crowd will cheer! I love you, you love me! But when he's there on the field, he won't see me, with all his focus on his man and not on his girl."

All Worldly had to do was motion to the seats. "Those are your fans," he said. "Are you going to send them home disappointed?"

Sterling had been extending himself throughout the second half, and he finally got a chance to roam forward and start something. Lisa had been working on Pete Buckley all game and finally managed to slip past him on a swooping run. He guessed where she'd be in a few seconds and just fired a ball through the Newmanistan line. Surprised by the pass, the Rocket players in the way reacted late. Lisa stretched out to receive the pass and then slid it behind Copeland to tie it. The verse that the crowd was on melted away into a cheer as it stood 12-12. Then, after Kai-Fu preserved the tie, the team went up again with a chance to win it.

"... And yet, but still, even so...!! My mind is spinning, spinning; my heart is racing, racing..."

Rick and Lisa exchanged passes and then Rick went forward looking for help. He had Molly behind him, but Rick saw an opening. He held off a challenge from Chris Mattison and beat Copeland to his right to retake the lead. Under a minute left, and the Rockets went up. Dancougar pulled back into a defensive shell with fans from both sides in full voice. Taylor pulled the trigger just as Kamjin checked him in attempt to free the ball... denied by Kai-Fu!

Prince Michael looked a little stunned but the team left the field in good order. He knew the group was still theirs, and the bye would likely come anyway. The Wings could celebrate this win and pretend they were good enough; the playoffs would determine that in the end.

Dancougar

16-01-2009, 16:19

The coaching staff had the team gathered in the locker room. "All right, congratulations on making it this far," said Beck. "The Sports Ministry thinks that we might have something here, and might be willing to provide additional funding if we can return to the semifinals."

"Those goons still aren't convinced we have skills?" asked Kamjin.

"You've played well, but still show some weakness," replied Beck. "You'll have time to address that against Sarzonia. Unfortunately, it appears that you will be without us for the first few matches, and perhaps the entire finals."

"Wait, what?" said Lisa. "What do you mean, you're not going?"

"The Sports Ministry coaching seminar is this weekend in Baltimore," Worldly explained, lifting his pipe to his mouth. He was about to light it when Samantha slapped him on the wrist. "We can't avoid it. Bilbao from the football team will be there, the basketball is on hold, and rugby league... well, I just found out we were in rugby league."

"So we're completely on our own, then," Roy mumbled. His face broke into a wide grin. "You know, somehow I think we'll..." Now it was Sally's turn to administer pain, this time with a slap to the back of the head.

"We'll try to arrange for the media to follow you, but we can't even guarantee token coverage," Worldly continued. "So far, the Dancougar News!! has gotten armtwisted into maybe providing abridged coverage for football. If that's all they're getting, imagine what we'll get."

"Someone might scream our final score off the campus rotunda at midnight," moaned Lisa, slouching over on the bench. "Man, after all that hard work, too."

"It's not the end!" Rick said, trying to rouse his teammates. "After all, we have the Bird in Pads. Sure, we could paint it purple and burn it now, but we need this as a reminder of how hard we worked to get here. Look, we can meet Newmanistan in the finals. I say we save the Bird until then, beat them again, and then paint it green before we torch it!"

"You're getting ahead of yourself," Lisa said, completing a hat trick for the women by punching Rick in the ribs.

"I still don't understand all your strange metareferencing," Worldly sighed. "But I like your spirit."

"We have plenty of other things to worry about," said Sterling. "We've got Sarzonia next, and if we beat them, it's undefeated Taeshan. There probably won't be a final for us unless we stay focused."

"And with a name like Slash, you can bet Sarzonia was destined to be a rival," Roy chipped in. "We can only hope they turn out to be a team that can do a little bit of everything during the regular games and then chokes when it matters most."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure, they can make the big plays," Lisa added. "In the fourth quarter, when things look grim and all you can do is say your prayers - your Hail Marys - they just roll downhill like a boulder for the winning score."

Ben brightened up. "Why, of course they're a threat!" he said. "I, too, recall the time when Kordell St..." Samantha, Sally, and Lisa all attacked at once and sent him flying into a locker.

"Sheesh, you need to be more subtle than that!" Lisa exclaimed.

"Whaaaaaaat, I was just..." Ben complained.

Roy helped Ben to his feet. "Look, Ben, breaking the fourth wall is an art. The problem is that while most of us could be found in the Carnegie, you're a kindergartner's hacked-together construction paper turkey on your mom's fridge."

"My mother loved that turkey, and it's still there!" Ben replied. And then, quietly, "What's a Carnegie?"

"That's... more than I needed to know," muttered Kamjin, his face in his palm. "Ever."

Cassadaigua

16-01-2009, 17:13

Random IM Conversation: (any similarity between these usernames and an actual person who might have this user name is completely coincidental).

<AshNorLax24>: (Ashley Norville): So Lauren what’s up?
<DaganLaxChikLM22>: (Lauren Mineri): Shhh I’m bidding.
<AshNorLax24>: Bidding, why?
<DaganLaxChikLM22>: Well my family wants to go and I am trying to get them tickets. This is very aggravating. Why do they have to have such a stupid way of doing things.
<AshNorLax24>: Just snipe an auction.
<DaganLaxChikLM22>: Snipe?
<AshNorLax24>: Yeah, don’t get involved in the bidding until there is no more then 10 seconds left and depending how fast your computer connection is, you all of the sudden show up at the last possible moment and win.
<DaganLaxChikLM22>: Yeah but people will probably outbid me.
<AshNorLax24>: I bet I could win you seats in one try. Snipers rule internet auctions always. As long as you know how to bid.
<DaganLaxChikLM22>: How to bid?
<AshNorLax24>: Dear child, let your captain teach you a little something. Link me to an auction.
<DaganLaxChikLM22>: Uhm ok. Here: (link)
<AshNorLax24>: See you’re going about this all wrong. Most people are going to want the aisle seats first.
<DaganLaxChikLM22>: Yeah, I guess.
<AshNorLax24>: Therefore, there is bound to be more people watching that auction for seats 1-4 and the one for 21-24.
<DaganLaxChikLM22>: Yeah I guess so.
<AshNorLax24>: So stay away from those auctions. Then the people who might be on to the fact that they should stay away from aisle seats are going to pick the middle of the row. So stay away from 9-12 and 13-16.
<DaganLaxChikLM22>: Uh ok.
<AshNorLax24>: So go for either 5-8 or 17-20. 17-20 is closer to the center circle, so we will pick 5-8. This is the auction of this row that is bound to have the least amount of people watching the auction. Thus making it the perfect auction to snipe.
<DaganLaxChikLM22>: Ok.
<AshNorLax24>: What’s the maximum that you want to bid for the four seats? <DaganLaxChikLM22>: Well, 100 per. So 400. So I was being cute and putting 401 :)
<AshNorLax24>: You know how many other people are going to do the same exact thing.
<DaganLaxChikLM22>: Uhhhh I dunno.
<AshNorLax24>: There will be 402's and 405's. So take the next likely threshold, let’s say 420. And bid 419.
<DaganLaxChikLM22>: I guess the 19 rusas wont make a difference.
<AshNorLax24>: Ok two minutes to go.
<AshNorLax24>: One minute, get on the bid screen.
<DaganLaxChikLM22>: Ok
<AshNorLax24>: At 20 seconds, enter the number 419. Then count to 10 in your head then click submit.
<DaganLaxChikLM22>: Ok
<DaganLaxChikLM22>: YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!! I WON!!!!!
<AshNorLax24>: Good job!
<DaganLaxChikLM22>: It went for 407. Thanks Ashley!
<AshNorLax24>: Don’t mention it!
<DaganLaxChikLM22>: THREE CHEERS FOR INTERNET AUCTION SNIPING!
<AshNorLax24>: Woohoo!

Sarzonia

16-01-2009, 21:15

At a pub near the practice facility in downtown Amherst

Joe Branson was sitting quietly at the side of the bar nursing a glass of ice water. He looked at the prices for even the cheapest beer and blanched.

A holiday in Secristan doesn't seem to be the best idea I've ever come up with, he thought. Indeed, the price of the hotel alone rather prevented Branson from staying more than a night. He took on the very logistically challenging task of flying into Amherst the night before and flying back home to Tacoma the night after the match. That meant he'd have to stow his luggage in the rental car after driving it to the match.

Turned out he was one of only 600 Slash supporters who made the trip to Amherst. Only 200 purchased tickets for the semifinal match. Of course, if Sarzonia pulled off the mild upset of Dancougar and advanced to face undefeated Taeshan, more supporters probably would buy tickets. Having said that, however, they knew they'd have to bid for the tickets, and that Secristanis likely would try to outbid them.

Of course, that was presuming that Secristan defeated Cassadaigua. Even though that would only result in the host nation facing number two seed Newmanistan in the semifinals. Still, Sarzonians who made the trip to Amherst essentially had to have large bank accounts and full wallets.

Neither of which Branson possessed. He'd taken out a second mortgage on his home to pay for this trip. Getting a chance to see Sarzonia in the quarterfinals of a tournament in its first go was a feat. Granted, the gridball team accomplished that same feat, but this was different somehow. This was a sport Sarzonia did not expect to do well in. But here they were, facing one of the hardest working teams in any sport.

He saw Carter Whitlock and spoke to the bartender.

"Can I send him a beer?"

"That brand? It'll cost you $50."

Shit. Fuck.

"Forget it, then."

Secristan

16-01-2009, 23:41

First Round:
Secristan 7-13 Cassadaigua
Dancougar 10-12 Sarzonia

Semifinals:
Taeshan vs Sarzonia @ Monopoly Stadium, Amherst
Newmanistan vs Cassadaigua @ Loophole Life Insurance Stadium, Lakeland

Sarzonia

17-01-2009, 03:22

Portland Press Herald

Slash advance to semifinal, 12-10

By Larry Bridger
Press-Herald Staff Writer

AMHERST, Secristan -- The fifth seeded Sarzonian national men's lacrosse team returned to their hotel after their match against Dancougar at Monopoly Stadium in Amherst. Playing a number four seed with a World Lacrosse Championship history in the first round of the knockouts seemed to be a recipe for an early exit by the Slash.

However, the Slash weren't returning to check out of their hotel rooms. They were staying at least another night. The Group C wild card made sure of that with a dramatic 12-10 win over Group A runners up and No. 4 seed Dancougar (7-2) in front of a sold out crowd at the stadium that surprisingly cheered for the underdogs.

"Someone must have wagered some money on us," Coach Harold Price told midfielder Carter Whitlock as he came off the pitch following his final shift of the match. "There certainly aren't more than 1,000 Sarzonians in here."

Regardless of any money involved, Sarzonia (8-1) live to play another match, getting No. 1 seed Taeshan, the only team to run through qualifying with an unblemished 8-0 record.

Whitlock said he and the rest of the Slash respected Taeshan but didn't fear them.

"We're not afraid of anyone in this tournament," he said. "We played in a tough qualifying group and defeated Secristan away to get here. We believe our schedule in Group C prepared us for this stage of the tournament."

Group B also saw its second place team, the plucky Cassadaigua, shock host nation and Group C champion Secristan 13-7 at Loophole Life Insurance Stadium in Lakeland. Cassadaigua face Group A champion Newmanistan at the same stadium in the other semifinal. Secristan finish the tournament 7-2.

"Cassadaigua came into this stage on a major role," Price said. "They will definitely be a team to watch out for. But so will Newmanistan."

Many of the storylines that could result from semifinal results are intriguing. If Taeshan and Newmanistan defeat the lower seeded teams, it will be a battle of No. 1 v. No. 2 in the final. If Cassadaigua (6-3) defeat Newmanistan and Taeshan defeat Sarzonia, it would mark the third matchup between the Group B sides. If Sarzonia and Cassadaigua both win their matches, it would be a Cinderella v. Cinderfella matchup pitting two lacrosse newcomers in the final.

As for Sarzonia v. Newmanistan, the final would pit two teams with identical group stage records against each other in the finals, though Sarzonia now have an 8-1 record courtesy of their win over Dancougar. With a first round bye, Newmanistan are 7-1 heading into their matchup with Cassadaigua. This time, Price and the Slash players won't offer any predictions.

"It'll be a great match. Hopefully, our match against Taeshan will be the same," attackman Tim Cole said.

"I don't want to get us in trouble," Price said when asked if he had any predictions for either of the semifinal matches. "I think they'll both be entertaining matches. I look forward to playing ours and finding out how the other one turned out."

Newmanistan

17-01-2009, 08:34

THE ROCKET REPORT

ROCKETS PREPARE FOR CASSADAIGUA

Lakeland, Secristan- The home team is gone. In the young history of the World Lacrosse Championships, it’s pretty easy to see what country has been the biggest underachiever. Each time Secristan had a great group stage, but they have only once advanced to even a semifinal. They were knocked out tonight by Cassadaigua, a country who has been hot down the stretch, but we are sure that no one is really too pleased about Secristan’s sudden exit from the knockouts in the tournament that they are hosting. This will mean less competition for Newmanistanians now as we place our bids to attend the game at Loophole Life Insurance Stadium. The other first round nation saw Dancougar get stunned by Sarzonia, 12-10. The Slash will take on undefeated Taeshan as the potential for a rematch of the last World Lacrosse Championships final gets much greater. Sarzonia and Cassadaigua will be game opponents, and each have proved that in this competition that first time nations can have success as long as they put together a good time and show the necessary commitment out on the field that is necessary to win games.

This is the time where I would normally have a sit down with the head coach to discuss things, but access to the lacrosse team has been difficult. Prince Michael stormed out on me for wanting to talk about football too much, and he refused to honor any interview request today as we try to get ready for Cassadaigua. Furthermore, the Prince has declared that his players will be made unavailable as well, so I couldn’t even get any of them. I could tell that there are some players that would have loved to have such an interview, but disobeying a coach who is also royalty is obviously not in their best interest. Therefore, I will have to keep this one short today. What I have noticed about the Cassadaigua team is that they are a very relaxed group of ladies. They have a nice ability, in all of the sports that they play, to just take things as they come and try to enjoy the moment. That is something that can be very helpful in the late stages of the knockouts. Newmanistan should be able to win this game as they have played outstanding lacrosse ever since this tournament began even when you include the loss to Dancougar. The team shouldn’t be looking ahead. That’s for us to do, in the media. Taeshan or Sarzonia await, and there are lot of Newmanistanians who would love that rematch against Taeshan. But Sarzonia, they have looked very strong themselves. That will be a good game as well, and we recommend that all our fans out there watch both.

Taeshan

17-01-2009, 17:01

Flaming Falcons Defeat Lovisa

Last week the Flaming Falcons furthered there record from 7-0 to 8-0 by defeating the young team from Lovisa and thus got a bye to the second round of playoffs in Secristan where they will play Sarzonia for a chance to make it to the finals. Hopefully they can.

Secristan

17-01-2009, 23:14

Semifinal results are in:

Taeshan 7-13 Sarzonia
Newmanistan 13-8 Cassadaigua

Third place Game, scorinated Sunday:
Taeshan vs Cassadaigua @ Loophole Life Insurance Stadium, Lakeland

World Lacrosse Championships 3 Final, scorinated Monday:
Newmanistan vs Sarzonia @ Monopoly Stadium, Amherst

Sarzonia

18-01-2009, 00:03

The Iron Worker
A Portland monthly magazine published by the Press-Herald
[OOC: This is my attempt at more magazine-style writing as opposed to newspaper-style writing.]

Slash advance to final, won't have to leave Amherst

By Noelle Langham

AMHERST, Secristan -- An undefeated groups stage may have made Taeshan a feared opponent for some of the teams that advanced to the semifinal stage of the World Lacrosse Championships. After all, Taeshan were the only side to earn that distinction as four of the other six teams that advanced that far owned 7-1 records.

But not Sarzonia. Perhaps the lacrosse newcomers suffer from a naiveté due to lack of experience. Perhaps they don't know any better. More likely, it's because Sarzonia are a quality lacrosse side in their own right.

The Slash routed the Group B champion Falcons 13-7 in front of 22,106 at Monopoly Stadium in Amherst to advance to the finals of the third championship, which will be played in Monopoly Stadium behind a four-goal game by attackman Tim Cole and a natural hat trick by midfielder Carter Whitlock.

The Group C runners up Slash (9-1) dominated every facet of the match against Taeshan, putting up a clean sheet in the third quarter as Sarzonia extended its 9-6 halftime lead to 12-6. The score may have seemed to be close, but Sarzonia never trailed, and only a three-goal flurry at the end of the second quarter kept the Falcons from being blown off the pitch.

The Slash will face Newmanistan, the Group A champions, who defeated Group B runners up Cassadaigua 13-8 at Loophole Life Insurance Stadium in Lakeland. That stadium will host the third place match between Taeshan and Cassadaigua, which will mark the third meeting between the teams.

"We played arguably our best match of the tournament," Whitlock said in the Slash locker room. "Offensively, defensively, goaltending, we did just about everything right. I couldn't be happier for the team."

The logistics gods must be favouring Sarzonia. After all, the Slash will play their third consecutive match in Amherst, again using the visiting team's locker rooms. They will once again stay at the same hotel they checked into on the flight from Woodstock to Amherst. Meanwhile, number two seeds Newmanistan will make the trip from Lakeland to Amherst and must check into a different hotel. Coach Harold Price said the fact his team will stay in the same city will benefit the team.

"Absolutely," he said. "It probably won't be much of an advantage, but we won't have to worry about packing our bags, getting on a bus or a plane, making a trip across country, checking into a hotel, then learning our surroundings enough to play the championship match. This time, we're going to be in the same place and use the same locker room we've been using."

Newmanistan (8-1) won the first seven matches during the groups stage, only falling to Group A runners up Dancougar in the final match of group play. The tiebreaker favoured Newmanistan, who earned the No. 2 seed and a bye into the semifinals. The rest Newmanistan earned as a result of the bye week seemed to do them some good against a plucky Cassadaigua side, which dropped to 6-4 overall.

The women of Cassadaigua ran off four consecutive wins to earn the runners up slot in Group B before closing out their qualifying schedule with a 11-8 loss to Taeshan. They then routed No. 3 seed and host nation Secristan 13-7 in Lakeland, earning them the date with Newmanistan. Their third meeting with Taeshan will be in the third place match.

But few teams in the lacrosse world are as hot as the Slash right now. Sarzonia currently own a five match winning streak, and only lost to host nation Secristan at Chip Moose Lacrosse Stadium in Woodstock. Since that loss, Sarzonia routed a Kura-Pelland side expected to challenge for one of the two Group C berths in the finals. However, Kura-Pelland started playing its worst lacrosse around the same time the Slash started playing its best lacrosse.

"We seem to have a tendency to play better when it counts," Cole said. "I think we've been rounding somewhat into form over these past few matches."

Sarzonia also showed the ability to rally, coming back from a five-goal fourth quarter deficit to shock Secristan in overtime at Secristan, then rallying from a 10-6 deficit late in the third quarter against Dancougar to win the quarterfinal match 12-10. Coach Harold Price said the Slash players were "some of the most determined people I've ever met in my life.

"These guys quickly developed team chemistry," he said. "They played on various club sides in [the Incorporated Lacrosse League], so turning them into a team was a challenge. However, these lads really got on well and have been a pleasant surprise."

Regardless of whether Newmanistan hold serve and hoist their second championship trophy in three tournaments or the Slash complete their debut tournament with a shock win, Sarzonia's players can count on one thing. The Incorporated Lacrosse League received a $2.5 billion grant from the Department of Health and Athletics to grow the sport due to the Slash's success in the WLC.

"We wanted to recognise the team's success and the sport's growing popularity in Sarzonia," said Vice President for Health and Athletics Carter Marshall. "We couldn't be more pleased with the team's run thus far."

Newmanistan

18-01-2009, 07:48

THE ROCKET REPORT

HEADING TO THE FINAL

Lakeland, Secristan- Newmanistan showed it’s lacrosse prowess to the world again during the third World Lacrosse Championships as a 13-8 victory over Cassadaigua eliminated that feisty opponent in the semifinals. In the final, which will be played at Monopoly Stadium in Amherst, the Rockets will be opposed by Sarzonia, who gave Taeshan their first loss at an inopportune time, by nearly the same final score, 13-7. Sarzonia may give visions of the former nation of Land de Wood, the country in which we defeated in the final of the first WLC, and advanced to the semifinals of the last one before the nation vanished from the face of the earth. If anything, the Slash has replaced the Woodpeckers in that role of being a serious threat to win a championship in lacrosse. Sarzonia, by defeating Secristan, Dancougar and Taeshan at some point in this tournament has earned that recognition. Though a championship? They’ll still have to get through us.

Cassadaigua entered the match coming off a hard fought upset victory over the home nation, and thus the Rockets seemed to have about a 75-25 advantage in the stadium as far as the home fans were concerned. Bidding was much easier for Newmanistanians, obviously, as they knew they would be in this stadium on this day while Cassadagan fans didn’t have the same luxury. Plus travel to Secristan is quite easy from Newmanistan, and this should also benefit the team in the final. Cassadaigua played the Rockets tough in the early going as the teams played to a 3-3 first quarter tie. Ashley Norville assisted on all three goals for the underdogs as they looked to remain hot. The game remained tied, 4-4, until midway through the second quarter when we began to see signs of the Rockets having the much fresher legs. Cassadaigua struggled to contain Kyle Foster in the midfield, as Newmanistan poured on three big goals late in this quarter to go up by the score of 7-4 at halftime. The scoring was pretty well spread out, as both members of the Capital Connection, Keith Taylor and Curt Farrell had scored two goals, while Jason Green, Matt Knight, and Kyle Foster were on the board once. Taylor also had assists on two goals.

Heading to halftime, the Rockets were a pretty confident group and had the feeling that they had this game pretty well wrapped up. Prince Michael had to be careful because of that, because there is absolutely nothing safe about a three goal lead, and Cassadaigua’s squad has been playing from behind for a long time now. He expected a spirited effort by their women in the second half, knowing that they would be rested a little bit and want to come out and score while they at their freshest. Sure enough, this was the Cassadaigua approach, and it got them a goal just 22 seconds into the second half, but the Rockets were able to settle down pretty well from there. The early third quarter was mainly a defensively focused one for the sky blue and white and the Dagans found their scoring chances to come from poor angles, and Jason Copeland was able to make the saves when needed. The Rockets went a long time without scoring themselves in this quarter, but late in the session they got two goals, one by each Taylor and Farrell as both completed their hat tricks and the Rockets were up by the score of 9-5. In the fourth quarter, Newmanistan put this game a way as Cassadaigua simply had no answer for Keith Taylor, who was doing it his way. When he wasn’t scoring, he was getting assists. In the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, he’d be the man to put it the way, scoring two more goals and assisting on a score by Jason Green with a incredible pass. Up by the score of 12-5, and actually completing an overall 8-1 run in scoring, the game was in the bag at this point. The intensity of the defensive effort diminished greatly and did allow for three late Cassadaigua scores, but the outcome was never in doubt, and with 48 seconds remaining, Jason Green put an exclamation point on the semifinal victory by the score of 13-8.

As previously mentioned, this result puts Newmanistan into the final of the 3rd World Lacrosse Championships where they will look to improve on their overall 4-8 record in finals of various sports. The Rockets will be made the favorite by most, but they will respect their opponent from Sarzonia. The players travel to Amherst for the final. It’s a road that, figuratively, they’ve been down twice before.

Secristan

18-01-2009, 23:21

3rd Place Game:
Taeshan 10-11 Cassadaigua

Tune in tomorrow around this time to see if Newmanistan or Sarzonia wins the coveted 3rd World Lacrosse Championships Trophy!

Sarzonia

19-01-2009, 19:34

At the hotel for the Sarzonian national lacrosse team in Amherst, Secristan

The hotel's conference room was packed to the gills with a combination of healthful snacks and junk food. The flat screen television was fired up and all the players on Sarzonia's roster and the Sarzonian coaching staff were all intently watching as Cassadaigua and Taeshan prepared for the opening faceoff.

"Don't women's teams use a draw control instead of a faceoff?" attackman Tim Cole asked no one in particular.

"Usually, but this tournament uses men's rules," said midfielder Carter Whitlock.

"Perhaps that's a reason Taeshan won twice against Cassadaigua," Cole said.

"Humph, Taeshan," Whitlock said. "They're a fucking fraud."

"Enough!" Coach Harold Price yelled. "They got to the semifinals," he said. "Besides, we don't need to give those guys any bulletin board material." He thought to himself, even if it's true.

If any team had a right to claim that Taeshan was a fraud, it would be Sarzonia. The Group C runners up dominated Taeshan in a way they only dominated the two bottom feeders in their group in a 13-7 rout during the semifinals. Sarzonia had to fight from behind to defeat Dancougar and the Slash knew to a man that Newmanistan was at least as good as, if not better than Dancougar.

But this wasn't the night to worry about the finals match against Newmanistan. Tonight was a night to relax and watch Cassadaigua face Taeshan in the third meeting between the two sides. Three meetings with a team in your own group is a recipe for a rivalry, Slash players knew that. They also knew Cassadaigua rounded into better form over the second half of groups stage play.

If an observer took a poll of the Sarzonian players, they would be unanimous in cheering for Cassdaigua against Taeshan. They would tell you Taeshan's berth in the semifinals was undeserved and built on facing weak sides in Group B. Group A had the Newmanistan/Dancougar pairing. Meanwhile, Sarzonia's own Group C had the host nation Secristan and inaugural championship hosts Kura-Pelland.

When the final whistle sounded and Cassadaigua fulfilled the prophecy midfielder and team captain Ashley Norville made in her blog. They defeated Taeshan in their third try after losing both matches in the groups stage. That improved the women to 7-4 in this third tournament and gave the Slash hope that a newcomer nation could make an impact on the lacrosse scene.

But more than that, the Slash expressed quiet confidence that they could accomplish every team's ultimate goal by defeating Newmanistan for the title. The fact Sarzonia was a group runner up while Newmanistan was a group champion didn't deter the Slash. Even though Newmanistan was the best team Sarzonia would face thus far, the Stars still felt confident they had a fighting chance.

"Anything can happen," defender Paul Landry said. "They're the best team we've faced thus far, but we could be the best team they've seen."

"We're the great unknown," said goalkeeper Craig Larrabie. "They've never seen us on the pitch. We could get out there and surprise a few people."

Even if they fall short, Sarzonia made a statement with its finals appearance, Whitlock said.

"Absolutely," he said. "We're a team to be reckoned with." As for Price, he said the fourth World Lacrosse Championships would be a different challenge no matter what happened in the final against the Rockets.

"We're going to be one of the teams with a bullseye on our back," he said. "Whether we defeat the Rockets or not, we're not going to sneak up on anyone next time out. We'll be taken seriously from the outset."

Secristan

19-01-2009, 23:27

The World Lacrosse Champions have come to end. The finals score of today's championship:

Newmanistan 11-14 Sarzonia

Congratulations to Sarzonia on their great run which ends in this championship!

Lovisa

20-01-2009, 00:35

Lovisan team send congratulations for new champion Sarzonia.

Newmanistan

20-01-2009, 03:18

Rockets players leave the field in disappointment as they lose in the final, continuing the recent trend of the Rockets advancing to the finals and losing. In the last 11 times Newmanistan has made a final, they have won twice, putting the team between the proverbial rock and the hard place.... it's nice to get this far, but it'd be nice to win.

Congratulations Sarzonia and thanks to Secristan for a smoothly run tournament.

Sarzonia

20-01-2009, 03:23

Portland Press-Herald

Slash wins title in first attempt

By Larry Bridger
Press-Herald Staff Writer

AMHERST, Secristan -- After trailing by four goals entering the fourth quarter, the Sarzonian national lacrosse team dominated the quarter, scoring eight times in the frame en route to a 14-11 victory over Newmanistan to capture its first World Lacrosse Championship title in its tournament debut.

Midfielder Carter Whitlock won the tournament's most outstanding player award by scoring twice in the quarter and three times overall. His second goal of the game tied the score at 11 with 7:29 remaining after Newmanistan blunted a four-goal Sarzonian rally that had tied the score with 9:04 left.

"It was just a matter of having to make a play and making it," Whitlock said. "I wasn't going to just stand there and let us lose."

Whitlock's third goal came with 6:08 remaining to give the Slash (10-1) a 12-11 lead, then he forced a turnover in the Sarzonian end that Coach Harold Price said was the difference in the match.

"No question, that was the play of the match," Price said. "Newmanistan were threatening and [goalkeeper Craig] Larrabie was looking shaky right there. They score there and who knows what happens?"

No one will find out because attackman Tim Cole collected the long pass from Whitlock and scored with 4:17 remaining to give Sarzonia a 13-11 lead. Cole also scored the final goal of the match, his fourth of the game, to give Sarzonia a world title in a sport other than football.

Price said after Sarzonia routed No. 1 seed Taeshan that playing its third consecutive match at Monopoly Stadium in Amherst would be an advantage, nullifying the neighbourly advantage Newmanistani media called their proximity to Secristan. He said was proven right with this result.

"We had the opportunity to sleep in the same beds, practice in the same facility and use the same locker rooms throughout our time here in Secristan," Price said. "The roads are starting to look a little familiar to some of our lads now."

Just as important for the Sarzonians, Price said the Slash came together as a team in a way he didn't suspect on the first day of training.

"When we first started, I thought we were going to be awful," he admitted. "But we came together as a team and we accomplished something we can be proud of."

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