{"id":232411,"date":"2026-01-11T10:11:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T10:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/232411\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T10:11:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T10:11:12","slug":"australia-closes-dominant-campaign-at-2026-asia-pacific-mens-lacrosse-championship-with-gold-medal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/232411\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia closes dominant campaign at 2026 Asia-Pacific Men\u2019s Lacrosse Championship with gold medal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Australia soared to a 13-3 win over the Philippines on the final day of the 2026 Asia-Pacific Men\u2019s Lacrosse Championship to claim the gold medal and wrap up a dominant campaign in Wellington, New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p>Japan took the bronze medal by fending off New Zealand, 9-5, earlier in the day in a tightly contested affair.<\/p>\n<p>Jump to:<\/p>\n<p>Australia won its first Asia-Pacific Men\u2019s Lacrosse Championship since 2007, when it bested Japan in a battle of U21 squads, and its fourth overall. The Philippines earned a medal in the championship for the first time ever, while Japan extended its medal streak to ten.<\/p>\n<p>Australia\u2019s five-game undefeated campaign at the championship featured the best scoring offense and best scoring defense with an average of fewer than four goals allowed per game. Sunday\u2019s final was another lockdown effort from the Aussies with just 17 shots on goal allowed, and an impressive 15-save outing from goalkeeper Kody Watts.<\/p>\n<p>Japan and New Zealand locked horns in a defensive battle that was 3-3 at halftime. Japan led 6-3 in the third, but New Zealand rallied to cut it to 6-5. In the fourth however, Japan outlasted the resilient effort from the hosts to find three goals in the final five minutes. Kuroda Kenshiro scored five, including the late effort to restore a two-goal lead.<\/p>\n<p>Hong Kong, China earned its second win of the week against China by a 19-6 decision and seven points from Corbyn Tao. <\/p>\n<p>The top four finishers \u2013\u00a0Australia, Philippines, Japan and New Zealand \u2013 all qualified for the 2027 World Lacrosse Men\u2019s Championship in Japan with a 16 team field. Korea, Hong Kong, China and China all earned spots for the 2027 World Lacrosse Men\u2019s Championship Division II in Wroclaw, Poland. <\/p>\n<p>Statistics from the event are available at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/worldlacrosse.sport\/APMLC26\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">worldlacrosse.sport\/APMLC26<\/a>\u00a0and replays are available of all games on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/tv.worldlacrosse.sport\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">WL TV<\/a>\u00a0for free after 24 hours of the conclusion of the event.<\/p>\n<p>Points Leaderboard<\/p>\n<p>Komine Takuma, Japan: 18 goals, 4 assists<\/p>\n<p>Corbyn Tao, Hong Kong, China: 16 goals, 3 assists<\/p>\n<p>Matthew Wood, Australia: 14 goals, 2 assists<\/p>\n<p>Kuroda Kenshiro, Japan: 14 goals, 1 assist<\/p>\n<p>Komatsu Yuto, Japan: 8 goals, 7 assists<\/p>\n<p>Lachlan Walker, Australia: 7 goals, 8 assists<\/p>\n<p>Save Percentage Leaderboard (min. 15 saves)<\/p>\n<p>Kody Watts, Australia: 35 saves, 74%<\/p>\n<p>Edward Lie-A-Cheong, Hong Kong, China: 59 saves, 60%<\/p>\n<p>Daniel Morris, Philippines: 48 saves, 59%<\/p>\n<p>Fujii Kaisho, Japan: 40 saves, 57%<\/p>\n<p>Zhuoran Xu, China: 39 saves, 49%<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2400\" height=\"1352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2026-Asia-Pacific-Mens-Lacrosse-Championship_1259-e1768103185445.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-29341\"  \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/au-1024x512.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20406\" style=\"aspect-ratio:4\/3;object-fit:contain;width:364px;height:auto\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Australia<br \/>13<\/p>\n<p>Top Performers<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Kody Watts, 15 saves, 88% save percentage<br \/>John Stubbs: Four goals<br \/>Matthew Wood: Three goals<\/p>\n<p>Highlights<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2400\" height=\"1352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2026-Asia-Pacific-Mens-Lacrosse-Championship_1173-e1768098687377.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-29338\"  \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/jp-1024x683.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20405\" style=\"aspect-ratio:4\/3;object-fit:contain;width:364px;height:auto\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Japan<\/p>\n<p>Top Performers<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Kuroda Kenshiro: Five goals<br \/>Fujii Kaisho: Nine saves, 64% save percentage<br \/>Okamoto Neo: Seven face-off wins, 64% win percentage<\/p>\n<p>Highlights<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2400\" height=\"1352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2026-Asia-Pacific-Mens-Lacrosse-Championship_1042-e1768086854548.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-29335\"  \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hk-1024x683.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20403\" style=\"aspect-ratio:4\/3;object-fit:contain;width:364px;height:auto\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Hong Kong, China<br \/>19<\/p>\n<p>Top Performers<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Corbyn Tao: Six goals, one assist<br \/>Ka Ho Geoffrey Tsoi: 17 face-off wins, 68% win percentage<br \/>Haydn Cheung: Two goals, three assists<\/p>\n<p>Highlights<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia soared to a 13-3 win over the Philippines on the final day of the 2026 Asia-Pacific Men\u2019s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-232411","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}