Ireland’s Senior Women’s Sixes team finished the 2026 Atlas Cup in Sparks, Maryland, with three defeats, the last of them a four-goal loss to the Haudenosaunee Nationals that Ireland led by six at half time. The squad left Maryland directly for Spain, where the European Sixes Lacrosse Championships begin on 2 November.
Ireland’s women are not new to the discipline. The programme finished seventh at The World Games in Chengdu in 2025. This group, though, was together for the first time in Maryland, and played the three strongest teams in the format on consecutive days.
Friday: Canada 24, Ireland 5
Catherine DeKorte scored seven seconds into the game. Canada, ranked second in the world in women’s Sixes, answered with nine straight goals across the first two quarters and led 11-2 at half time. Nicole Perroni scored six from 13 shots and Erica Evans five.
Ireland’s goalkeepers held up under volume. Stella Quilty and Haley Crosson made eight saves each as Canada took 46 shots to Ireland’s 21. The problem was possession. Ireland turned the ball over 27 times to Canada’s eight and did not convert any of four extra-man chances. Ireland’s best spell came in the fourth quarter, when Orla Howlett, Amelia Heisler and Julia Ruscio scored three goals in ninety seconds. Ruscio finished with two, DeKorte with a goal and an assist, and Ally Gibb assisted Ruscio’s first.
Saturday: United States 28, Ireland 2
The United States, unbeaten in women’s Sixes since 2024 and gold medallists at the Pan-American qualifier this month, led 14-0 before Amy Bolton scored late in the second quarter. DeKorte added Ireland’s second in the fourth. Possession was again the gap. Ireland turned the ball over 31 times to the Americans’ four and were outshot 52 to 18. Crosson made ten saves in the first half and Quilty six in the second.
Sunday: Haudenosaunee Nationals 18, Ireland 14
Olivia Rosenzweig scored nine seconds into the game and Ireland led 3-1 after the first quarter. The second quarter was Ireland’s best of the weekend. Seven goals, including Ruscio and DeKorte on the extra man, took the lead to 10-5 at half time, and Orla Howlett made it 11-5 at the start of the third.
The Nationals scored eight times in the third quarter. Sierra Cockerille and Jalyn Jimerson led the comeback, and the game was level at 13-13 with twenty-seven seconds left in the quarter. Jimerson scored three more in the fourth. Ireland had eight extra-man opportunities in the game and converted two; the Nationals converted four of six. Fourteen of Ireland’s twenty turnovers came after half time.
Rosenzweig finished with five goals and an assist from eleven shots. Howlett scored three and assisted two. Ruscio scored two, Gillian Smith scored one and assisted two, and Bolton, DeKorte and Brenna Campbell each scored once. Quilty made nine saves.
What the weekend showed
Head Coach Maddy Buss said this was the first time the group had played together as a full Sixes team. She said Ireland “found our groove late” and pointed to the one-on-one defending, the slides and the physicality as the foundation to take to Spain. Sunday supports that. Ireland scored 14 against a side that had conceded five and eight in its first two games, and held the lead for most of the match.
The women’s competition in Salou starts on 2 November. Ireland have one week to turn Sunday’s first half into a full game. The roster for Spain will be announced separately.