PHILIPPINE lacrosse is making noise over the past few days with its team in the 2026 Asia-Pacific Men’s Lacrosse Championship advancing to the finals in Wellington, New Zealand.
The Philippines defeated host country and world No. 24 New Zealand, 12-7, on Saturday to advance to the championship game to be played on Sunday.
Facing the Philippines in the final is Australia, which is ranked No. 4 in the world.
The squad comes in with experience in beating a world-rated team in this competition.
The Philippines, ranked No. 30 in the world, topped Pool B after sweeping their three games including a win over world no. 4 Japan, 10-9, in double overtime, the victory of which enabled the country to book a spot in the 2027 World Lacrosse Championship in Japan.
It also won over China, 20-1, and Hong Kong, 9-4, during the pool play.
A couple of the members of the Philippine team played US NCAA Division 1 lacrosse including Dan Morris, the third best goalie in the tournament with a 60 percent save rate in the tournament.
Morris played for the Maryland Terrapins team that won the US NCAA national title in 2017.
Lacrosse is a widely-popular team sport in the United States, played with a lacrosse stick being used to bring, pass, and shoot the ball into a goal.
The performance of the Philippines squad comes with lacrosse set to make a return to the Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles although it will play a ‘sixes’ competition instead of the traditional one.
The sport was once part of the Olympics in 1904 and 1908 with Canada as the gold medalists.
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