NETANYA, ISRAEL — Barak Netanya LC, the host club of the 2018 FIL World Lacrosse Championships, has an international flare in its’ franchise player selections.
The “Bolts”, who won the inaugural IPLL title under head coach Pete Ginnegar’s leadership in 2015, franchised Uganda men’s national team captain Patrick Oriana, as well as hometown star Ori Bar David and University of Colorado-Denver star Drew Lazar.
Oriana, who is expected to return to Netanya in summer 2018 with the Uganda national team, scored four goals and four assists for Uganda at the 2014 World Championships in Denver, Colorado. He was recently featured on CNN’s “Inside Africa”, a 30-minute show on efforts to sustain the sport’s growth there.
His selection by Barak Netanya LC is an obvious one following the recent announcement that Ginnegar, the “Bolts” bench boss, was named head coach of the Uganda National Team. Uganda national Castro David Onen, who is registered for the IPLL this summer, is also expected to be drafted by Ginnegar to Netanya.
Bar David, who turns 17 this summer, will be seeing his first full season in the IPLL after missing most of the 2016 season at the FIL U-19 FIL World Lacrosse Championships. A native of Netanya, Bar David had a breakout performance at the recent Zombies Cup in Belgrade, Serbia, leading a team of mostly U-19 “Bolts” to a third place finish. He will make his debut for the Israel men’s national team this summer at the European Indoor Championships in Finland, and is considered a strong candidate to be on the field at Netanya Stadium on Opening Night of the 2018 World Championships.
Lazar, a Junior at University of Colorado-Denver, joins Netanya following a team-leading 38-goal season for the Lynx. The 21-year-old forward saw his first action for Israel at the European Box Invitational in April, scoring six goals for the blue-and-white, as well as a pair of scores for Tel Aviv LC in the Aleš Hrebeský Memorial.
Netanya will open the 2017 season on July 20th on their home field, with a nationally televised game against Be’er Sheva LC, the defending IPLL champions.