NETANYA, ISRAEL – The Israel men’s and women’s senior national teams dispatched Israel’s Winter Service Trip teams in a pair of friendlies at the official venue of the 2018 FIL World Lacrosse Championships on Thursday night.
The blue-and-white women opened the evening with a 14-6 victory over their younger counterparts. Emily Wesoky drew first blood with a goal three minutes in, however, Sarah Meisenberg and Megan Lerner scored back-to-back for the Israel women, who broke open a 6-2 halftime lead.
Team WST opened the second half with two straight goals to cut the deficit to 6-4, but the blue-and-white scored four straight goals to take a commanding 10-4 advantage.
Sophie Bass (four goals) and Batel Elkalay (three goals) led Israel, while Meisenberg and Amit Burstein each chipped in two goals. Lerner, Rebecca Potash and Yulia Gorobets added singles. Daniela Solomon (30:00, 2 saves, 2 GA) and Blaire Nathanson (30:00, 3 saves, 4 GA) split time in goal; Nathanson was credited the win.
Wesoky (three goals), Zoe Torok (two goals) and Yael Gelman (one goal) scored for WST. Ariana Waldorf (30:00, 7 saves, 6 GA) and Carly Silver (30:00, 4 saves, 8 GA) saw action in goals; Silver was dealt the loss.
The Israel men jumped out to a 7-0 lead and cruised to a 20-4 victory over WST. Ryan Hunter scored three times in the opening frame and finished with four goals and two assists. The blue-and-white led 11-1 at halftime and 15-2 after three quarters.
Jonathan Jennings and Alex Rabin added three goals apiece, while Sammy Breslau and Eric Fischer each scored twice. Jacob Silberlicht added one goal and one assist. Max Adler, Jonah Biblowitz, Matt Flapan, Seth Mahler and Marc Skolnick added singles.
Max Kaufman, Yochanan Katz and Brian Witmer cracked the scoresheet with one assist each.
Newly minted GM Brad MacArthur ran the bench in place of head coach Bill Beroza (80:00, 5 saves, 3 GA), who covered the team in goal and earned the win.
Jack Tucker led WST with one goal and one assist, while Gabriel Adelman, Nick Lipsher and Will Offerman added singles. Conner Brook and Sam Meltster added a goal apiece.
Doug Allen (20:00, 2 saves, 5 GA), Alex Kaplan (20:00, 2 saves, 4 GA), Jeremy Morgenstein (20:00, 2 saves, 4 GA) and Noah Soilson (20:00, 1 save, 7 GA) each saw a quarter in net; Soilson was dealt the loss.
Team WST will return to action on Monday against the European All-Stars and the Poland men’s and women’s national teams in Krakow.
Additional Caps (WST Girls) – Abigail Alpert, Samantha Crotty, Shana Crotty, Joely Donovan, Valerie Diamond, Jessica Horenstein, Elana Litsky, Samantha Pickholz, Dorothea Volpp, Mackenzie Wicks
Additional Caps (Israel Women) – Gabriela Cheban, Stephanie Graber, Christy Ledridge, Talya Ozeri, Winter Pisco, Ally Trachtenberg
Additional Caps (WST Boys) – Robert Aronson, Zachary Bernstein, Nathan Biblowitz, Conner Brook, Josh Finglass, Simon Flaherty, Andrew Goldberg, Alex Horowitz, Noah Hytken, Spencer Krelitz, Emanuel Lulavy, Amit Nafshi, Lucas Podvey, Cole Rottenberg, Ethan Shacket, Erik Scheel, Kai Solomon, Benjamin Tishgart, Gabriel Weinstein, Zachary Weinstein, Benjamin Wilson, Arlo Zelickson
Additional Caps (Israel Men) – Samuel Adler, Lidor Ashtamkar, Harel Ben Harush, Eric Canter, Sage Disch, Ilan Hascal, Eddie Kovel, Matthew Popeck, Jonathan Rathauser, Bar Yahalom