Israel's women's national lacrosse team made history in Tokyo on Sunday, beating the Haudenosaunee Nationals 7-4 in the bronze-medal game to win the country's first-ever medal at a World Lacrosse Women's Championship, ONE reported.
The result capped a remarkable run through the Nissin Foods 2026 World Lacrosse Women's Championship, a 16-team tournament that has been running in Tokyo since July 24, with the semifinals and medal games staged at Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium.
Israel went through pool play unbeaten before edging Australia 12-11 in a frantic quarter-final. The run to a medal game came to a temporary halt in the semifinals, where top-ranked and eventual finalist the United States beat Israel 19-7.
That defeat sent Israel into the bronze-medal match against the Haudenosaunee Nationals, the Indigenous Six Nations team that had itself been chasing a first-ever women's world championship medal after falling to Canada in the other semifinal.
Jordyn Lipkin was named player of the match in the bronze-medal game, according to ONE, and finished the tournament as its leading scorer with 19 goals and 25 total points, adding six ground balls along the way.
"This is a tremendous privilege to represent something far greater than ourselves," Lipkin said, according to ONE's report. "We made history and showed the world what Israel's team is capable of."
The medal is a landmark moment for a program built largely on a mix of Israeli-born players and Jewish athletes from North America, competing under the Israel Lacrosse Association, which has held full World Lacrosse membership since 2011. Israel's women had never previously finished on the podium at a global championship.
The achievement also arrives at a pivotal time for the sport: lacrosse is set to return to the Olympic program at Los Angeles 2028 in the fast-paced Sixes format, raising the stakes and the profile for programs like Israel's as they look to build toward a first Olympic berth.
The United States advanced to face Canada in Sunday's gold-medal game, but for Israel, a nation with no lacrosse tradition to speak of a generation ago, bronze in Tokyo stands as the biggest result in the sport's short Israeli history.
