U.S. Men Open with Two Wins at USA Lacrosse Experience

INDIANAPOLIS — The road to the Olympics began with a pair of victories for the United States men’s sixes team at the inaugural USA Lacrosse Experience. Playing its first international sixes competition since last year’s announcement that the sport would be included in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, the U.S. beat Colombia 25-7 and Puerto Rico 18-6.

The U.S. men will close out the international competition at the event on Saturday evening at 8 p.m. against Great Britain at Carroll Stadium on the Indiana University Indianapolis campus. Tickets are still available and all games are being streamed on the USA Lacrosse YouTube channel.

In Friday’s other games, Puerto Rico edged Great Britain 16-14 while Great Britain came back to beat Colombia 21-18.

Scores 

• Puerto Rico 16, Great Britain 14 (Box Score)
• United States 25, Colombia 7 (Box Score)
• Great Britain 21, Columbia 18 (Box Score)
• United States 18, Puerto Rico 6 (Box Score)

The United States began the day got with a slow start against Colombia, leading just 5-4 after the opening quarter, but then turned things on and allowed just three goals the rest of the way.

Ryan Tierney had a team-high five points on three goals and two assists while Matt Campbell had a team-high four goals and Cole Kirst added a hat trick. Liam Entenmann came on in the second half and made eight saves while allowing just two goals.

Alex Concannon and Kai Switlick each scored twice for Colombia.

The U.S. was much sharper in its second game, jumping out to an 8-0 lead on Puerto Rico as Entenmann made nine first-half saves while allowing just two goals.

Puerto Rico went on a 6-1 run midway through the game to pull within 9-6, but the U.S. closed the game scoring nine straight goals. Colin Kirst made eight second-half saves and held Puerto Rico scoreless for the final 10 plus minutes of the game.

Campbell poured in five goals to lead the U.S. offense while Chris Aslanian, TJ Malone 2 and Brian Tevlin each scored twice.

Six different players scored goals for Puerto Rico and Will Mark made 11 saves.

“I think still learning how we want to play,” said U.S. head coach Andy Shay. “We’re trying to play with a little more tempo and pace. I think we played a little faster, but probably scored less goals. I think their goalie was awesome.

“Looking at the stats this morning. I was really impressed how unselfish we were, really balanced in terms of the shots every guy took. I think it’s a great sign for our team.”

In its first game, Puerto Rico scored the first four goals of the game in its opener and never trailed against Great Britain, posting a 16-14 win. Great Britain pulled to within two goals and six separate occasions, but could get no closer.

Puerto Rico showed tremendous balance with 13 different players scoring goals, led by Jared Fernandez, Donovan Lacey and Cristian Mercado with two goals each. Mark made 13 saves, 10 of them in the first half, to earn the win.

Alex Russell led Great Britain’s offense with three goals and two assists and Lyndon Bunio and Ben Page-Laycock each added hat tricks. William Baxter and Hal Dwobeng combined for 15 saves.

Great Britain outscored Colombia 21-18 in its final game of the day behind four goals from Page-Laycock. The game was tied 16-16 entering the fourth quarter, but Page-Laycock scored twice in the final quarter to help Great Britain pull away. Ryan Hunns added three goals and Drew Bickerton had two goals and three assists.

Baxter made 12 second-half saves for Great Britain while allowing just six goals.

Concannon and Alex Mandel-Franco each scored four goals for Colombia.

Paul Ohanian contributed to this article.