SPARKS, Md. — The dynasty endures.
The U.S. Women’s National Team captured its fifth straight World Lacrosse Women’s Championship gold medal in dominant fashion Sunday, defeating rival Canada 16-4 in front of a lively crowd at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo.
“We accomplished all our goals that we set out to do at the beginning of this journey,” head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein said. “They played the right way. They represented lacrosse the right way.”
Goalie Shea Dolce (Darien, Conn./Boston College ’26) blanked Canada for nearly the entire first half, making seven of her eight saves in the first 30 minutes and giving the offense time to stake the U.S. to an 8-1 lead at halftime en route to being named Player of the Match.
Midfielder Ally Kennedy (North Babylon, N.Y./Stony Brook ’21) was named MVP of the world championship. She scored two goals, added an assist and snagged several draws from the circle as teammate Ally Mastroianni (Martinsville, N.J./North Carolina ’22) steered the U.S. to a 13-10 advantage in that discipline.
For Kennedy, it’s her second world championship MVP nod. The U.S. veteran also earned MVP honors at the 2024 World Lacrosse Women’s Box Championship in Utica, N.Y.
In a theme that prevailed throughout the tournament, the U.S. distributed scoring evenly. Eleven different players found the back of the net, with attacker Sam Apuzzo (West Babylon, N.Y./Boston College ’19) setting the tone. The 2018 Tewaaraton Award winner received a pass from 2026 Tewaaraton Award winner Madison Taylor (Wantagh, N.Y./Northwestern ’26) after the U.S. declined to shoot on a pair of low-angle free positions and buried the first goal of the game just over five minutes in.
Apuzzo then set up former Boston College teammate Kenzie Kent (Norwell, Mass./Boston College ’19) with an alley-oop style pass out of a double team which Kent deposited in the goal to make it 2-0 USA.
Apuzzo finished with a game-high five points on three goals and two assists. Kent, Kennedy and midfielder Eliza Osburn (Castle Rock, Colo./North Carolina ’28) added two goals apiece. Osburn, 20, is the youngest player in U.S. Women’s National Team history to compete in a world championship at the senior level.
The U.S. led 8-0, with eight different scorers finding the back of the net before Canada got on the board on an Erica Evans buzzer-beater with less than a second left in the second quarter.
Coaches stayed with the hot hand and kept Dolce in for the start of the second half. She and Caylee Waters (Darien, Conn./North Carolina ’17) had platooned halves in the first five games of the tournament. By the time Waters relieved Dolce midway through the fourth quarter, the U.S. held a commanding 15-4 lead.
Apuzzo linked up with Kent one more time for the final margin.
“The coaches have done such an incredible job instilling what our standards are and building a culture where every single person on this team is selfless,” said veteran midfielder Marie McCool (Moorestown, N.J./North Carolina ’18), who became the eighth player in national team history to win three world championships. “This team is filled with first-team All-Americans, Tewaaraton winners, MVPs across the board. For us to come together and play team lacrosse is something that isn’t always easy to do. But every single player bought in.”
The United States has now won 36 consecutive games in senior field competition, its last loss coming in the 2005 gold medal game against Jen Adams-led Australia in Annapolis, Md.
There have been close calls since then, including a narrow one-goal win over Australia in the 2009 final in Prague, Czech Republic, and a hard-fought 11-8 victory over Canada in the 2022 final in Towson, Md. — the first time any team has won a world championship on home soil.
Featuring a star-studded roster that includes five attackers who have combined to win the Tewaaraton Award as the nation’s top college women’s lacrosse player seven of the last eight years, however, the 2026 U.S. team faced no such opposition. The Americans defeated six opponents by a combined margin of 121-27, or an average score of 20-5.
In the last world championship that will be contested without a shot clock, the U.S. injected tempo into the game with aggressive on-ball defense. The U.S. would not allow Canada to get comfortable.
Defenders pressed beyond the 11-meter arc and Dolce effectively cut off angles all game, but especially in the first quarter. Dolce made five saves in the frame, including a sprawling stop on Aurora Cordingley with eight seconds left on a putback attempt after a previous shot hit the pipe.
“She was such a stabilizer,” Walker-Weinstein said. “If we don’t have those early stops, that’s a totally different game.”
That was part of a man-down possession that continued in the second quarter as attacker Izzy Scane (Clarkston, Mich./Northwestern ’24) served a two-minute penalty. Mastroianni directed the opening draw of the second quarter to Kent, who got the ball to defender Sydney Scales (Walpole, Mass./Boston College ’24).
Scales caught Canada’s defense off guard when she carried the ball into the offensive zone and scored a shorthanded goal to put the United States ahead 3-0. The U.S. found its rhythm after that.
Asked if this team delivered on her ambition of being the greatest in women’s lacrosse history, Walker-Weinstein said yes, resoundingly.
“I’m so proud of them. They just played the right way. That’s what we wanted,” she said. “They are the best of all time.”
