More joy for Jamaica LAX

Jamaica's lacrosse team continued their impressive run at the 2018 Federation of International Lacrosse World Championships in Israel after they beat Finland 8-7 in their 13th to15th-place match yesterday.

The team showed resilience to pull off a hard-fought victory, having been 4-3 at the midway mark.

"We fought the hardest battle today and won," Dale Walker, one of the coaches, told The Gleaner, yesterday. "We were down 1-0 at the end of the first quarter, then we were down 3-2 at half-time,"

The team pulled level at 4-4 before the end of the third quarter and went on to outscore the Finns in the fourth in a nail-biting finish.

Coach Mark Wilson had predicted that the Finns would have put the Jamaicans through their toughest test on Wednesday.

"Finland has the toughest offence we have seen. They will be a challenge for our defence. They have seven foot attackers and very physical and skilled offensive players ," Wilson predicted.

And Wilson was right as the team conceded the most goals since suffering the 11-3 defeat to Israel in their opening match last week Tuesday.

Formidable Finland

"Finland is an extremely formidable group. And for us to have faced them and come out victorious is a very great achievement. They were physical, they were strong, but as usual, we did our scouting and we knew what we had to do, but despite that, they really had us against the ropes up to the third quarter," Walker said.

"This victory gives us a great feeling and a sense of pride to know that we can come this far and take on these countries, which are traditional lacrosse countries."

The win means that the Jamaicans will take on Wales today in the 13th -14th place decider.