American women are top seeds after pool play at the world lacrosse championships

After a 15-9 victory over England on Monday, the U.S. women’s lacrosse team headed into the elimination round as the No. 1 seed at the World Championship in Towson, Md. The Americans were set to play No. 16 Hong Kong at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Johnny Unitas Stadium.

The U.S. emerged as the top team in Pool A, which also featured Canada, England, Australia, and Scotland. The Americans also defeated Australia, 16-5, on Saturday night.

“To be able to play alongside the greatest players of all time … is so inspiring,” U.S. attacker Charlotte North said. “I’m just trying to soak in every moment.”

The Americans have failed to secure gold in the World Championship only twice, losing to Australia both times. They cruised to a 10-1 first-half lead against the Aussies on Saturday. Midfielder Ally Kennedy finished with a hat trick for the winners, as did Moorestown’s Marie McCool.

The hosts jumped to an early 5-1 lead on Monday, but England went on a 4-1 run of its own. McCool stopped England’s momentum with a goal, and U.S. held an 8-6 advantage at the half.

“It is a game of momentum and swings,” U.S. coach Jenny Levy said. “[You have to keep] sticking to your fundamentals, just picking up a hard ground ball.”

A 4-1 run — including three goals from North — in the final 15 minutes helped the Americans put the game away.

The Australian national team has a strong Philadelphia connection, with three of its athletes having played for St. Joseph’s. Attacker Rebecca Lane graduated in 2019 after starting for the Hawks all four years. She spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons as a volunteer assistant coach while earning her master’s degree.

Attacker Stephanie Kelly is one of the most decorated St. Joe’s women’s lacrosse players of all time and is the career assists leader (109), single-season assists leader (46, 2021), and single-season points leader (91, 2021). She was a graduate transfer at Rutgers in the 2022 season.

Midfielder Bonnie Yu is the youngest link in the Melbourne connection, finishing her sophomore year in 2022.

After the four-game round robin, Lane had five goals while Kelly had a goal and two assists.

Team England’s Brittany Read is a goalie from Gibbsboro, N.J., who played varsity lacrosse at Eastern Regional High School, where she set the career saves record with more than 600. In her senior season in 2014, she was named to the All-South Jersey first team. She played collegiately at Louisville and Oregon. At Louisville, she set single-season records for saves (194) and save percentage (.515). She just completed her fourth year as an assistant coach at Denver.

Through the pool round, Read had 18 saves across four games. She shared her time between the pipes with Katherine Greenwood in all games except for one, when Read played the whole 60 minutes against Scotland.