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CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA Four members of the Virginia men’s lacrosse program played important roles in leading the United States Under-19 National team to U19 world championship last weekend in Coquitlam, British Columbia. All four players will be sophomores at UVa this coming season.
The United States won all seven games, including a 19-12 victory over Canada last Saturday in the gold medal game to claim the championship for the sixth straight time.
Adam Ghitelman started six of the team’s seven games and was named the tournament’s top goaltender. He recorded a tourney-high 61 saves, including 19 in the gold medal win over Canada. He finished with a 60.4 save percentage and was also named to the All-World Team.
Nick Elsmo was the team’s top shortstick defensive midfielder and scored 12 goals in the tournament to lead the US midfielders. He shared the team lead with three goals in the championship game win over Canada. His goal midway through the second quarter ended a 4-goal run by Canada and broke a 7-all tie while proving to be the game-winning goal for the US. He scored eight goals on his last eight shots and did not miss in the team’s final two games.
Rhamel Bratton was team’s third-leading scorer with nine goals. He scored three goals in Team USA’s 25-5 win over England in the semifinals.
Defenseman Bray Malphrus appeared in all seven games and helped Team USA hold its opponents to an average of 6.86 goals per game.