OSHAWA, Ontario — Emma LoPinto has been a prolific scorer throughout her lacrosse career. She scored nearly 400 points in college, set a record with 49 points for the U.S. Women’s U20 National Team in 2024 and was one of the leading scorers in the inaugural Women’s Lacrosse League season this summer.
On Sunday, she scored just one time, but what a goal it was.
With the shot clock winding down, LoPinto ripped one from the left wing with 38 seconds remaining to give the U.S. a 15-14 victory over Canada in the title game of the Pan-American Sixes Lacrosse Championship.
LoPinto had some shots earlier in the game but couldn’t get anything to fall as the Canadian defense stymied the USA offense repeatedly.
“Canada was doing a good job of making me hesitate,” LoPinto said. “All game I was kind of wondering if I should let it rip. Honestly, I kind of heard the shot counting down and stepped in and kind of prayed it went in and it did.”
Canada has beaten the U.S. women three times in sixes since 2021 — in the gold medal game at The World Games in 2022 and during pool play at Super Sixes events in 2021 and 2023. But since Lindsey Munday took over the U.S. program in 2024, the USA has gone a perfect 15-0 with the closest game being an 18-11 win over Canada at last year’s Atlas Cup before today’s game.
Nothing came easy for the U.S.
It took its first lead late in the second quarter on a transition goal by Sam Apuzzo, but Canada scored the first two goals of the second half to retake the lead. Canada took its final lead, 13-12, on a Nicole Perroni goal just 36 seconds into the fourth quarter.
Chloe Humphrey tied the game at 13 with four minutes to play and Apuzzo once again put the U.S. on top, scoring with 2:42 left.
The lead was short-lived as Kylea Dobson scored just 24 seconds later to tie the game.
Canada was hit with two penalties down the stretch. The first didn’t hurt them as Kameron Halsall made her 16th save of the game with 1:33 to play, but USA goalie Taylor Moreno answered with a save at the other end of the field to keep the game tied.
Canada was then whistled for interference to set up an extra player advantage for the U.S. and LoPinto buried the game-winner.
Canada’s last effort ended when Annabel Child was given a red card for dangerous propelling as her shot with seven seconds left hit USA defender Marie McCool.
While it was tighter than recent U.S.–Canada games, there was plenty to take away.
“Being able to play in tight games is awesome,” Munday said. “As a player, it's what you want and for the girls to be in a battle, to see who steps up when we kind of have our backs against the wall a little bit.”
“That’s what we all play the game for,” Apuzzo said. “That’s why want to compete for the U.S., to play in games against Canada. This is the hardest game we’ve played in a long time. It was a ton of fun. That’s where we want to be competing with all of the countries.”
Humphrey led the U.S. with five goals while Apuzzo (3g, 2a) and McCool (3g, 1a) each had hat tricks. LoPinto had two assists to go along with her game winner.
Humphrey, LoPinto and McCool were all named to the all-tournament team.
This was the 13th consecutive international women’s championship event (box, field, sixes) for the U.S. in which it met Canada in the final game. The last time the U.S. met anyone other than Canada with a gold medal on the line was the 2011 U19 world championship when the U.S. defeated Australia in Germany.
The two countries will have plenty of additional chances to build on the rivalry in the coming weeks as the sport continues to build toward the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Canada will be at the Atlas Cup at USA Lacrosse headquarters in Sparks, Md., Oct. 23-25 and then both will participate in the Global Lacrosse Games Dec. 8-12 in Springfield, Va.
The big step on the path to the Olympics is the inaugural World Lacrosse Sixes Championship, slated for Oct. 4-10, 2027 at Weidner Field in Colorado Springs, the home city of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee.
Five teams from the Pan-American event — the United States, Canada, the Haudenosaunee Nationals, Puerto Rico and Argentina — were the first to qualify for the 16-team team field at next year’s World Lacrosse championship. Five more will come from the Asia-Pacific Sixes Championship, which opens tomorrow from Australia. Five more will qualify from the European Sixes Lacrosse Championship Nov. 2-9 in Spain and the final team will come from the Africa Sixes Lacrosse Championship from Dec. 3-5 in South Africa.
