With three straight world championships, eight of the last 10 and a roster loaded with the biggest stars in the sport, there’s no question the United States is the heavy favorite to win the 2022 World Lacrosse Women’s World Championship.

But there’s a reason they play the games.

For starters, the U.S. has never won this event on home soil, falling to Australia in the 1986 championship game in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, and again in 2005 in Annapolis, Maryland.

Here’s a look at the top five teams.

AUSTRALIA

• World Championship Appearances: 10

• Best Finish: 1st (1986, 2005)

• Current Ranking: 4th

• Head Coach: Trish Adams

Australia will be plenty hungry after failing to medal for the first time ever in 2017. With a roster that blends experience and youth, the Aussies have the talent to return to their usual position of bringing home hardware.

Top Veteran: Hannah Nielsen

Nielsen won four NCAA titles and was a two-time Tewaaraton winner at Northwestern. The three-time All-World attacker will play in her fifth world championship — which means she wore the gold medal around her neck when Australia topped the U.S. in 2005.

Player to Watch: Stephanie Kelly

Kelly led Rutgers with 39 assists as part of a 65-point season. Previously, she was the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year at Saint Joseph’s.

Wild Card: Stacey Morlang

Morlang, who set an NCAA record with 12 goals in a game for Loyola in 2002, is back after not playing in 2017. It will be her fourth world championship appearance.

CANADA

• World Championship Appearances: 10

• Best Finish: 2nd (2013, 2017)

• Current Ranking: 2nd

• Head Coach: Scott Teeter

The Canadians won silver in both 2013 and 2017 and they don’t have to look too far for proof that they can shock the world. In 2015, Canada stunned the U.S. in the gold medal game of the U19 world championship.

Top Veteran: Dana Dobbie

One of the best ever in the draw circle, the former Ohio and Maryland star is a three-time All-World selection. Dobbie, now an assistant coach at Loyola working with the star of Australia’s 2005 championship, Jen Adams, graduated with the NCAA’s career draw controls record (334) and was an All-Star in both the UWLX and the WPLL.

Player to Watch: Aurora Cordingley

One of six players from the gold medal-winning 2015 Canadian U19 team who will suit up for the senior team this year, Cordingley has taken her play to another level as a graduate student at Maryland this spring after a stellar career at Johns Hopkins. A Tewaaraton finalist, she topped both 50 goals and 50 assists and ranked fourth in the country with 118 points.

Wild Card: Alie Jimerson

Jimerson led Canada in scoring in 2017 with 25 points (16 goals, nine assists). The former Albany and Syracuse star is Native American and was one of the leading scorers for the 2013 Haudenosaunee team that placed seventh at the world championship that year before switching to Canada.

ENGLAND

• World Championship Appearances: 10

• Best Finish: 2nd (1989, 1993)

• Current Ranking: 3rd

• Head Coach: Phil Collier

England is riding momentum after beating Australia for the bronze medal in 2017 and features an established lineup with eight returning world championship players.

Top Veteran: Laura Merrifield

Since making her debut with the English senior team in 2007, Merrifield has played in 79 international games. An All-World pick in 2017, Merrifield was a first team All-American at Maryland and won an NCAA title there.

Player to Watch: Oliva Hompe

Hompe was Princeton’s all-time leading scorer until Kyla Sears broke the mark this spring. She led England with 12 goals and 18 points in 2017.

Wild Card: Megan Whittle

Whittle, Maryland’s all-time leader with 298 career goals, scored the game-winning goal in overtime in the 2017 bronze medal game for England, her mother’s birthplace.

SCOTLAND

• World Championship Appearances: 10

• Best Finish: 3rd (1986)

• Current Ranking: 5th

• Head Coach: Ailsa Stott

Scotland posted its best finish since 1993 by finishing fifth in 2017.

Top Veteran: Jenni Aiton

Aiton led Scotland with 17 points in 2017. Aiton also had a team-high 24 points in helping Scotland to a fifth-place finish at the European championship in 2019.

Player to Watch: Hannah Whiteley

Whiteley received the Barrett Award as Scotland’s most improved player during the Home Nationals and tied Aiton with a team-best 18 goals during the European championship.

Wild Card: Chess Gray

Gray, who represented Great Britain during the Euro Sixes Cup in Portugal, scored 10 goals during the 2017 world championship, including four in a 17-13 win over Israel that clinched fifth place.

UNITED STATES

• World Championship Appearances: 10

• Best Finish: 1st (8 times, most recently in 2017)

• Current Ranking: 1st

• Head Coach: Jenny Levy

The United States is aiming to win four straight world championships for the second time in its history. The Americans were dominant in 2013 and 2017 after barely edging Australia 8-7 in the 2009 championship game. Can they be the first host country to win the women’s world championship?

Top Veteran: Taylor Cummings

The returning All-World player and Maryland great is the only three-time winner of the Tewaaraton Award in the sport’s history. She topped the leaderboard in the inaugural season of Athletes Unlimited last summer and previously starred in the WPLL and UWLX. She was a four-time first-team All-American at Maryland.

Player to Watch: Charlotte North

North didn’t make her U.S. team debut until tryouts in the summer of 2021, but she’s quickly garnered the attention of the lacrosse world. The two- time Tewaaraton Award winner led Boston College to its first NCAA championship in 2021 and set the NCAA Division I record with 358 career goals.

Wild Card: Marie McCool

McCool was one of the youngest players on the gold medal U.S. team in 2017 and the North Carolina graduate is primed for a breakout performance in the world championship. Much like Cummings, McCool can do it all from the midfield and with 12 goals in 2017 is the second-leading returning goal scorer from that championship team.