U.S. Men U20 History

Prior to 2022, the World Lacrosse U20 World Championship age grouping was U19.

The first U19 World Championship was sanctioned by the International Lacrosse Federation (ILF) in Adelaide, Australia, in 1988, with the U.S. defeating Canada for gold. Since then, Team USA has gone on to win all nine world championships. From 2008 to 2016, the U19 World Championship fell under the direction of the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) and beginning in 2022, under World Lacrosse.

Entering the 2012 event in Turku, Finland, the U.S. boasted a perfect 36-0 mark in international play. Team USA extended its unbeaten mark with a pool play win over Australia before losing for the first time ever in round-robin action to Canada, 11-9 in overtime. After a win over England, the U.S. lost again in pool play to the Iroquois Nationals, 15-13, and entered the medal round as underdogs for the first time.The U.S. responded by avenging both losses, first knocking off the Iroquois 12-7 in the semifinals, then topping Canada 10-8 for the gold medal.

The 2016 U.S. U19 team also got pushed to the brink, but staged an epic comeback to beat Canada 13-12 in Coquitlam, British Columbia and win its eight straight world title. The U.S. trailed by six goals at halftime and by three goals with under seven minutes to play.

The global pandemic made the U.S. wait until 2022 to defend its title, but head coach Nick Myers led the USA to goal again with a thrilling hard-fought 12-10 win over Canada in the gold medal game in Limerick, Ireland. The victory ran the all-time U.S. record to 54-2 in world championship play.

USA Lacrosse coordinates all aspects of the U.S. Men’s National Team program.

World Championship History