For the first time in history, the Israel men’s national team stands atop Europe as the continent’s lacrosse champion.
The Blue-and-White accomplished their first ELF Men’s European Lacrosse Championship title on July 19, narrowly outdoing Italy, 9-8, in a thrilling final the ILA and its fans won’t soon forget. It is the highest achievement for the Israel men’s national team to date.
The victory in the gold medal game solidified a perfect run for Israel in the tournament – the Blue-and-White went undefeated through their seven games in Wroclaw, Poland, en route to Europe’s latest lacrosse crown.
“The sacrifice this accomplishment took from each individual on the roster cannot be understated,” Israel men’s national team head coach Max Silberlicht said. “This level of sacrifice does not guarantee success, but it allowed this group the chance to succeed.”
Israel Men’s National Team Secures Gold
Israel and Italy entered the 2025 ELF Men’s European Lacrosse Championship Final with the same goal: win their country’s first-ever continental championship in men’s field lacrosse. For Israel, it was a shot at redemption after coming up one goal short in the 2016 ELF Men’s European Lacrosse Championship Final against England. For Italy, a nation that had never placed better than 11th in this competition prior to 2025, it was an opportunity at the ultimate stamp on its arrival announcement.
The Blue-and-White nabbed a quick 3-0 lead to open the contest and led 4-1 after the game’s first 12 minutes, the largest lead for either team throughout the 60 minutes. By halftime, the Italians evened the score at 4-4.
A back-and-forth affair continued from there. Israel’s Hayden Fruhling netted the team’s fifth goal, then Italy’s Matteo Giovanni Corsi responded fewer than two minutes later. Fruhling and Ryan Cohen elevated Israel two scores above, then Corsi brought his country back to within one. From there, the teams traded goals – Israel extended the cushion to two before Italy narrowed it back to one. With less than 90 seconds to go, Sascha Gannon claimed Israel’s ninth and final goal. It proved enough to get Israel over the line, despite Luca Hannan Lietti’s rebuttal 13 seconds ahead of the horn.
Italy claimed the final face-off. John Camillo Piatelli launched a prayer at Israel’s net-minder Drew Morris with hopes of overtime. But Morris stood strong and collected the valuables. He ran to the corner to confirm the championship, a clearing bench and airborne lacrosse equipment invading the field. It was official – for the first time, the Israel men’s national team was the European champion!
“I’m incredibly proud of the historic accomplishments by this team,” said Israel Lacrosse Men’s National Team Director Andrew Landsman. “A terrific group of players and coaches who battled adversity together and became the champions of Europe. Everyone on the roster gave it their all in order to come out on top.”
The Journey: How the Israel Men’s National Team Found the Final
Israel swept all six of its opponents prior to its encounter with Italy. The Blue-and-White dominated in pool play, dispatching Portugal, Scotland, Switzerland, and Norway by a combined tally of 50-13.
Those performances earned Israel a date with Latvia in the quarterfinals of the playoff stage. Israel ground the Latvians down, slowly asserting itself on the scoreboard through first three quarters while stifling its opposition defensively. Morris made six saves in the second quarter and was critical to keeping Latvia down, a catapult that launched Israel to a 5-0 run in the fourth quarter to put its challengers to rest once and for all. Aiden Housenbold’s three goals led all scorers, and Gannon and Matthew Balter chipped in two each en route to Israel’s 10-2 victory.
England, the same side that stopped the Israel men’s national team from achieving its goal in 2016, stood in the Blue-and-White’s way in the semifinals. The highly-anticipated rematch pitted two of the most powerful programs in the continent against one another, and it delivered.
The two countries traded goals for almost the entirety of the game. England broke first one minute into the contest, then Israel altered the scoreboard almost nine minutes later. England, Israel, England, Israel, England, Israel – this pattern held firm into the fourth quarter. Cohen evened the outing for the sixth time roughly three minutes into the fourth quarter to make it 6-6. Four minutes later, he found the back of the net again, shattering the status quo and propelling Israel to its first lead of the day.
The Blue-and-White defended with everything they had. Morris stood tall, chalking up 10 saves in the final period before Balter put it all to rest with five ticks left. Exercising demons nine years old, Israel outlasted England, 8-6, to return back to the tournament’s final.
Come the end of the tournament, Balter and Cohen shared the title of Israel’s top scorers with 14 goals each. Beau Chetner was right on their heels with 13 of his own, with Gannon (10) and Jack Monfort (9) close behind. Cohen also led the team in assists with nine, while Gannon (5), Monfort (4), and Balter (4) also had their hands on several scores. Morris saved 64% of the shots he faced, the third-best among goalies in the tournament, and mounted 52 saves in the process.
All the conclusion of the tournament, World Lacrosse named 11 players to an all-Europe team – four Israel players made the list: Morris at goalie, Housenbold and Ryan Fitzpatrick at defense, and Cohen gained recognition as the event’s overall MVP.
These were not the only players who contributed to Israel’s success in Wroclaw. Max Silberlicht made special mention of others who provided intangibles that don’t appear on stat sheets.
“We had a lot of players who made major impacts on the field, but I want to shout out two guys for their impact,” Max Silberlicht explained. “Coach Troy Lepore and captain Yakov Silberlicht asked the team for more energy from the bench after our game against Scotland. This is not easy to do, and if forced, it can feel inauthentic, and thus ineffective. Dolev Geva and Brendan Grove took this ask and made it a reality. They rallied the group and provided energy from our bench to the players on the field when they were not on the field making plays themselves. They were the captains of the bench mob, and we had the best bench in Europe down the stretch. We don’t achieve gold without them, their efforts, and their selflessness.”
Historical Context
This is more than Israel’s first European men’s field title – it’s only the second time in the tournament’s history that a country other than England has reigned supreme in the continent.
The only other instance of a non-English European men’s field champion came in 2001 when Germany knocked off England in the gold medal game in Penarth, Wales. Every other ELF Men’s European Lacrosse Championship has concluded with an English celebration – until now.
Israel is the third nation to ever claim an ELF Men’s European Lacrosse Championship since the event’s inception in 1995, and the gold medal matchup with Italy was the first-ever final to exclude England. The Blue-and-White’s ultimate triumph was historic in its own right, but the elimination of England in the semifinals was truly untouched territory.
Such a momentous accomplishment could have derailed Israel right before the gold medal match. That it didn’t was a statement of his team’s mentality, Max Silberlicht said.
“It would have been easy to let off the gas after beating England,” the head coach said. “That was an emotional high that no one in the ILA program has ever felt before. I commend the players for celebrating the historic win that evening, turning the page to prepare for the gold medal game the way they did, and then executing. That takes true devotion to a cause.”
2025 ELF Men’s European Lacrosse Championship Recap
Twenty-four teams from 24 nations descended upon Wroclaw to play out a tournament that was a long time coming. The stakes at these events are always high, but with a new qualification twist for the 2027 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship – qualification for the worldwide championship became tied directly to continental contest results, and only the top seven in Wroclaw would find themselves in the top division in Japan in two summers.
Israel’s gold medal meant it was long-qualified for the 2027 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship, but for several other countries, it came down to the wire. In the end, Israel, Italy, England, Ireland, Latvia, Czechia, and Germany grabbed the spots, relegating the rest to the Division II World Lacrosse Men’s Championship in two years.
The final standings of the 2025 ELF Men’s European Lacrosse Championship are (bold = gold medalist, underlined = medalist, italicized = qualified for 2027 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship):
- Israel
- Italy
- England
- Ireland
- Latvia
- Czechia
- Germany
- France
- Netherlands
- Greece
- Slovakia
- Switzerland
- Scotland
- Wales
- Poland
- Spain
- Portugal
- Norway
- Finland
- Croatia
- Denmark
- Sweden
- Ukraine
- Bulgaria
Thank You, Israel Lacrosse Mishpacha
The ILA wants to thank every person who has played, coached, watched, supported, and otherwise contributed to the organization over the years. The players, coaches, and support staff who were in Wroclaw on July 19 got it done on the field, but many more had a hand in grabbing the gold.
“A special toda raba to all the family, friends, and supporters,” Landsman said. “Whether they were on-site cheering in Poland, attending watch parties in Israel, or tuning in from elsewhere in the world, their love and support helped guide this team. We would not have won our first gold medal without them.”
For Vice President of Programming and veteran defender on the Israel men’s national team Seth Mahler, this accomplishment was a long time coming. Mahler has been involved with the ILA since 2012 and witnessed the sport in its infancy in Israel. Now 13 years later, he has more than enough proof to declare it was all worth it.
“Pioneering the sport of lacrosse in Israel has been a lifelong passion and a deeply meaningful journey,” Mahler explained. “A career highlight has been watching our sabras pick up the stick for the first time, fall in love with the sport, grow into the men and athletes they are today, earn their spot on the national team, and share the championship journey with them. Playing on the national team, representing Israel and our people around the world, has been both an honor and a privilege. Bringing home the gold fills me with immense pride and joy, and I hope this achievement inspires future generations of Israeli athletes to dream big and believe.”
