Oshawa’s Civic Fields hosting World Super Sixes lacrosse championships this weekend

Super Sixes makes its return to Civic Fields in Oshawa this weekend as Canada tries to repeat as world champions after winning the first rendition of this nearly brand new variation of the Creator’s Game in the Motor City last fall.

The four-team tournament kicks off at six tonight with Kenya taking on the USA, with Canada opening up defence of their title at 7:30 against Haudenosaunee.

There are four games scheduled for Saturday, including Team Canada matches at 10 a.m. against Kenya and at 4:30 vs USA. The bronze and gold medal games are set for Sunday at 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., respectively.

Canada earned gold last October after thumping Haudenosaunee 17-4 in the final (avenging a 9-8 defeat in the second matchup in the double round-robin); their second major title in the six-players-a-side field lacrosse game that year after winning gold in the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama.

The 2023 competition is the first time the women’s sixes teams from Canada and the United States will meet since that match when Canada toppled the USA, 14-12, to claim its first senior women’s gold medal.

Brooklyn Walker-Welch of Courtice, who stars with the University of North Carolina in the NCAA, will return from that tournament, along with other rising legends such as Dana Dobbie (Guelph), Megan Kinna (Maple Ridge, B.C.), Erica Evans (Peterborough) and goaltender Laura Spence.

Brooklyn Walker-Welch (Courtice) in action for Canada

In addition, Alex Matsuoka (Calgary), Skylar McArthur (Peterborough) and Shonly Wallace (Mission, B.C.) return from the team that won the 2022 Super Sixes on home soil.

Jordan Dean, an Oshawa Blue Knights and Brooklin High School grad who was on Canada’s U19 World Championship roster in the traditional field game, is also on the squad. Dean plays in the NCAA for UMass-Amherst.

Others on the roster include Hannah Morris (Orillia) and sisters Bella and Guilianna Gaspar (Burnaby).

Oshawa’s Shawn Williams, the head coach of the Las Vegas Desert Dogs of the NLL, will take the helm of the Canadian team, helped by assistants Jessica Markew (Oshawa), Katie Ranger (Whitby) and Ashley Bull (Langley, B.C.)

The United States roster features nine Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse players, including three who won gold medals at the 2022 World Lacrosse Women’s Championship in Dempsey Arsenault, Lizzie Colson and Ally Mastroianni, and two silver medalists from The World Games 2022 in Marge Donovan and Sam Swart.

The Haudenosaunee roster features seven players who competed in The World Games 2022, led by Lois Garlow, Fawn Porter, Jalyn Jimerson and goalkeeper Paige Crandall.

Kenya is traveling a team of domestic players to Canada to compete in an international women’s event for the first time since 2019, when it competed at the women’s U19 championship in Peterborough. Mackline Osaji will be back from that team.

Major differences players will find in World Lacrosse Sixes include:

• 30 second shot clock; Four 8-minute quarters
• Goalies initiate play after goals are scored; draws / faceoffs occur only at the start of each quarter; Rosters are comprised of 12 players, which leads to more playing time and more touches on the ball
• Field size is 70×36 meters (regular field lacrosse is played on a standardized 100 metre x 55 metre field)
• Flow of the game emphasizes tempo, with fewer stoppages in play; Everyone plays both sides of the field (defense/offensive) and substitutions are made on the fly
• In the women’s game, defensive players cannot be penalized for entering the shooting lane of an offensive player; offensive players will be penalized for taking a shot without regard for other players

Fans can stream the event for free at YouTube.com/WorldLacrosse.