PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC — The Israel men’s national box lacrosse team was edged by host Czech Republic, 14-13, on a rainy Sunday evening at the 2016 European Box Lacrosse Invitational at LCC Radotin.
The Czechs jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, but Israel jolted back with a six-goal run of their own to take a 6-4 lead at the half.
The blue-and-white led 10-6 and 11-7 in the second half before Czech Republic went on a 7-1 run late in the game, taking a 14-12 advantage. Kyle Bergman scored with 1:35 left to trim the deficit to one goal, but, the Israelis couldn’t tie the game up, and the hosts held on for the win.
Czech Republic’s top offensive weapons from the 2015 World Indoor Championships in Syracuse were in action, including Dominik Pešek and Jiří Loskot who scored four goals each.
In their last meeting at the quarterfinals of WILC2015, Israel edged the Czechs, who are the traditional box lacrosse powerhouse in Europe. The teams have developed a sharp rivalry with one-goal deficits highlighting two of their three prior meetings.
Bergman (five goals, one assist) led the Israelis, while Danny Bialosky and Bryan Hopper each added two goals and an assist.
Seth Mahler (one goal, one assist), Bradley Diamond, Franklin Pargh and Jeffrey Schwartz each added one goal, while Chris Friedman, Aaron Mathias and Joshua Bernstein chipped in one assist apiece.
Andrew Copeland (60:00, 35 saves, 14 GA) is 1-1 on the weekend in goal.
Israel wraps up their “E-BOX” schedule against 9th-ranked Finland, who is 2-0 on the weekend, on Sunday at 2:10 PM.
Additional caps – Max Artz, Aaron Feinberg, Andrew Landsman, Cooper Levitan, Jon Lipton, Jonathan Rathauser, Glen Tobin