Ireland opened the Nissin Foods 2026 World Lacrosse Women's Championship against the United States on Saturday morning and lost 18-5. On Sunday they returned to Oi Stadium and beat Chinese Taipei 13-9. One win, one loss, second place in Pool A on goal difference, and a Tuesday evening fixture against the Haudenosaunee that will decide where Ireland finish in the group.
Saturday: Ireland 5, United States 18
Few teams get a harder introduction to a World Championship than the one Ireland were handed on Saturday morning. The United States are the reigning champions and they played like it, scoring inside four minutes and finishing the game shooting 18 from 36.
The scoreboard, though, is not where the interesting story of this game sits.
Start with the draw circle. Ireland won 13 of the 27 draws against a United States side that has built much of its dominance on possession. Riley Peterson took ten of those herself, four of them in the second quarter and two more in the fourth, still contesting every restart with the same intent she showed at the opening whistle.
In goal was the other. Niamh Pfaff faced 27 shots on target and made nine saves against arguably the most dangerous attacking unit in the sport. She also caused a turnover and won a ground ball in the closing seconds of the first quarter, still reading the game rather than simply reacting to it.
Ireland scored in every quarter, which is no small thing on this stage. Finja Degl opened the account at 7:42 in the first, finishing a Brigid Welch assist to bring Ireland within one at 2-1. Ava Connaughton scored twice, once in the second from another Welch feed and once with 52 seconds left off a Katrina Dowd assist, a goal that said plenty about a group still playing to the final whistle. Riley O'Mara and Peterson took the other two. Welch finished with two assists, Dowd with one.
The margins told the rest of the story. Ireland shot 5 from 17 and turned the ball over twelve times, against a United States side that gave it away three times all morning. Possession, and what Ireland do with it, is the area the staff will work on this week.
Saturday was always going to be the hardest morning of the tournament. Ireland came through it having matched the United States in the draw circle, having found the net in all four quarters, and with a goalkeeper in outstanding form. There was plenty in it to take to Sunday.
Sunday: Ireland 13, Chinese Taipei 9
Twenty-four hours later, on Field 2, the same squad had to find a completely different game. Chinese Taipei are not the United States. They are also not a team that hands anything over, and they proved it for a half.
Annika Wray put Taipei ahead inside a minute. Welch levelled at 8:52. Ava Ryan made it 2-1 Ireland with three minutes left in the quarter, and Tabitha Goon tied it again at 2-2 before the horn. Karis Goon then edged Taipei back in front early in the second.
Ireland's answer was the passage that decided the match. Ryan scored again at 8:37. Connaughton finished a Dowd assist at 6:54. Ryan struck a third at 3:26. Ireland led 5-4 at half time, and the shape of the game had changed.
The third quarter was where it broke open properly. Wray pulled Taipei to 5-6 with eight minutes left in the period. Ireland then scored five without reply, running from 6:09 in the third through to 13:49 in the fourth: O'Mara from a Grace McHugh assist, Isabel Alini, Welch, Gillian Smith off a Ryan assist, then Welch again from McHugh. Ireland went from a one-goal lead to 11-5 in a little over seven minutes of playing time.
Underneath the run sat the draw circle again. Ireland won 21 of 26 draws, a rate of 80.8 per cent. Peterson won nineteen of them. Six came in the fourth quarter alone. When a team wins four out of five restarts, the opposition are defending for most of the afternoon, and Taipei were.
Ryan finished with four goals and an assist. Welch matched her with four goals. Connaughton added two, O'Mara, Alini and Smith one each. McHugh had two assists without scoring. Ireland shot 13 from 30, a jump from 29.4 per cent against the United States to 43.3 per cent, against a goalkeeper in An-Ju Lee who made ten saves and kept the margin respectable.
Pfaff made six saves across three quarters before Stella Quilty took the fourth and added two.
Two things will bother the staff. Ireland turned the ball over fifteen times, three more than they managed against the United States. And Taipei scored three goals in the final two minutes and twenty seconds, two of them from Goon and a late Wray finish with twelve seconds left, to close a 13-6 game to 13-9. Neither cost Ireland the result. Both would against a better side.
Where it leaves Ireland
Pool A after two rounds:
Pos Team P W L GF GA GD
1 United States 2 2 0 40 10 +24
2 Ireland 2 1 1 18 27 -8
3 Haudenosaunee 2 1 1 16 30 -9
4 Chinese Taipei 2 0 2 17 24 -7
Ireland hold second on goal difference, one goal clear of the Haudenosaunee, who are also 1-1. The two sides meet on Tuesday 28 July at 18:30 local time on Field 2 at Oi Stadium. The winner takes second in the pool.