In an upset that undoubtedly has laxbros crying into their Sperry Top-Siders, the Iroquois Nationals defeated Team USA at the U-19 World Championships in Finland today 15-13.


It's the first time the Six Nations national team has beaten Team USA in field competition, and it's an especially meaningful win after the Iroquois Nationals were unable to attend the 2010 Worlds due to bureaucratic nonsense in the U.S. and U.K. state departments, forcing the team to forfeit the competition. It was also a notable loss for Team USA, which before today had never lost a match to a team other than Canada.


From another perspective, it's a massive upset when the scale of the sport's players is taken into account; while there are roughly 150,000 competition-level U.S. lacrosse players, the Iroquois Nationals pull together a team from only 86 qualified competitors according to Indian Country Today Media Network. The win advanced the Nationals to the medal round semifinals, where they could face Team USA again.

h/t to Matt