MORAVIA, Costa Rica – The Panama men’s team earned its second consecutive World Lacrosse Sixes tournament title over the weekend at the Torneo Centroamericano Bicentenario Sixes Lacrosse with a 22-15 victory over Colombia in the championship game. Panama compiled a perfect 4-0 record during the four-day tournament, outscoring opponents by 85-39 to seal its second championship in three months following victory at the 2021 PALA Sixes Cup in September.

Overall, the Torneo Centroamericano Bicentenario featured 266 goals across 12 games utilizing the sport’s new shorter and faster format. It included three days of round-robin play, with the top team from each of the two groups playing for the championship on Sunday.

The championship match between Panama and Colombia included a tournament-high 37 goals in 32 minutes of play, with just two goals separating the teams entering the final 8-minute quarter. Both of runner-up Colombia’s losses came at the hands of Panama, including by a 15-10 margin during round-robin play.

Panama is new to the international scene, having become a World Lacrosse member last year. Meanwhile, Guatemala and Nicaragua were making their international debuts in the sport of lacrosse, and Mexico and Costa Rica were competing in their first international Sixes event.

Costa Rica Torneo Centroamerica Bicentenario Day 4 Results :

5th/6th: Costa Rica found their offensive rhythm early and defeat Guatemala, 14-2.

3rd Place: Mexico rallies past Nicaragua, 9-4.

1st Place: Panama outscores Colombia, 22-15, becoming tournament Champions. pic.twitter.com/3uw2ahTa2k

— World Lacrosse (@worldlaxsport) December 5, 2021

Costa Rica captain Rubén Rodríguez said: “The Torneo Centroamericano Bicentenario was an amazing experience. On behalf of the Costa Rican team, thank you to the five other Latin American teams for coming to our country to play and to everyone who helped deliver such a well-organized event. Sixes complements field and box lacrosse by taking the best of both worlds. It is more versatile when teaching new and young players, while offering a fresh and compressed version of a magnificent game for experienced players, with lots of exciting offensive and defensive transitions and many goals.”

Romar Dennis of Panama, who is a midfielder for the Premier Lacrosse League’s Atlas LC, said: “This has been awesome; it’s one of the most fulfilling lacrosse events I’ve ever been to. I am really proud of my Latino heritage and being here and seeing how the game has spread all over different continents is very exciting.”

World Lacrosse CEO Jim Scherr said: “Congratulations to the Costa Rica Lacrosse Sporting Federation on the successful staging of the first Sixes event in Latin America, and to Panama for a very strong winning performance. World Lacrosse Sixes continues to deliver on its promise of creating expanded competitive opportunities for a wider range of countries. Providing newer member federations the chance to compete early and often on the international stage will quickly lead to a deep global talent pool, and will attract further participation around the world as we seek to gain Olympic inclusion.”