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U.S., Canada set to face off again for lacrosse title

DENVER - In what is a surprise to no one, once again the lacrosse world will be watching the United States and Canada duke it out for a championship.

DENVER - In what is a surprise to no one, once again the lacrosse world will be watching the United States and Canada duke it out for a championship.

For the fifth consecutive tournament and eighth time overall, the two biggest international lacrosse powers will meet in the final of the FIL World Lacrosse Championships on Saturday at Dick Sporting Goods Park, just outside Denver.

The United States enters the game 6-0 in the tournament after crushing Australia, 22-3, in the semifinals. The Americans have outscored their opponents 107-26 and already notched a 10-7 victory against Canada in the opening game on July 10.

The Americans have tallied two easy wins against Australia. They have also beaten Japan, England, and the Iroquois Nationals by a combined score of 59-9. But the players know it's different when they play Canada.

"All the stuff we've done in these past few weeks is just preparation. This is the game that we care about and we're finally here," said faceoff specialist Greg Gurenlian, a Penn State alumnus and native of Springfield, Delaware County.

The United States controlled much of its three-goal win against Canada. The team fell behind early, but scored eight straight goals in the second and third quarters to seize control.

U.S. coach Richie Meade said he thought his team relaxed late and made the score a little closer than it should have been. He said he thinks both teams are better now.

"I think that we understand that the first game doesn't really matter right now," Meade said. "[Canada has] changed quite a bit from when we played a week ago. They've made some adjustments offensively and they're a better defensive team than they were. Hopefully we are too."

As for the blowouts that followed the Canada game, Meade attributed that to the other countries being a level below the United States and Canada. He praised his team for staying sharp and playing in dominate fashion.

Gurenlian said the players weren't worried about whom they were playing, just the level at which they played.

"Our goal is not just to win the gold medal," he said. "Our goal is to play the greatest lacrosse ever played."

Canada also essentially rolled to the championship game except for a few hiccups against the Iroquois Nationals. The Canadians scored with 19 seconds left in the fourth quarter to seal a 9-8 win in pool play. The teams met again in the semifinals and Canada came from three goals down at the start of the second quarter to win, 12-6.

Looking back to the opening game, Canadian players said they were disappointed they lost their three-goal lead against the Americans and attributed some of it to sloppy play in the team's first game together.

But Canada's leading scorer, Curtis Dickson, said his team has learned from its mistakes last week and is playing at a higher level than the first time it saw the United States.

"It's a long tournament and we have lots of games under our belt now," Dickson said. "We've meshed well and gotten the chemistry we need to get."

The Americans have never missed the finals of the World Lacrosse Championships, dating back to 1967, and have lost only twice, both times to Canada, in 1978 and 2006.

In the most recent final, in 2010 in Manchester, England, the United States held off the Canadians, 12-10, to win its ninth world championship.