U.S. handles Australia to advance to FIL final

The United States advanced to the championship game of the Federation of International Lacrosse Men’s World Championship by beating Australia, 14-5, in the semifinals Thursday in Netanya, Israel. The U.S. will play Canada in the championship game Saturday at 3 a.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2. Canada defeated the Iroquois Nationals, 15-4, in the other semifinal. The U.S. beat Canada, 11-10, in pool play Sunday. Thursday’s U.S. win over Australia was a much tougher grind than a 19-1 pool play win over the Aussies on Saturday. Marcus Holman (Gilman) had a teamhigh four points, all in the second half, on three goals and an assist to pace the U.S. offense. Michael Ehrhardt, Ryan Brown (Johns Hopkins, Calvert Hall) and Rob Pannell each had two goals and Jordan Wolf had a goal and two assists as the U.S. again featured a balanced attack. ing drew Post 8 in a field of 11. TODAY’S RACES: Full fields and a 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot carryover of $7,292.31 will greet bettors when live racing returns to Laurel with a 10-race card today. First race post time is 1:10 p.m. Ninety-nine are entered, an average of 9.9 starters per race. There are five races scheduled for Laurel’s turf course on the Bowl Game and Exceller layouts, which attracted a total of 57 entries, an average of 11.4 starters per race. Highlighting the program is a $40,000 maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies going 5 ½ furlongs on the Bowl Game in Race 3 where Sexyama, a daughter of two-time graded-stakes winner Cairo Prince, is the 5-2 program favorite.