2026 Pan-American Sixes Championships: Golden Thrillers For USA

Sixes can produce some epic drama.

The United States earned two golds over Canada at the 2026 Pan-American Sixes Lacrosse Championships. Both victories came by one goal, both in the final minute, in games that highlighted the frenetic, anxiety-inducing pace of Sixes.

Emma LoPinto scored the game-winner with 38 seconds left as the American women beat Canada, 15-14. USA scored three of the game’s final four goals to take over a game that neither team could take a breath and neither team led by more than two.

Chloe Humphrey led scorers with five goals. Her USA teammate and UNC coach Marie McCool had a hat trick and an assist, while Sam Apuzzo had a hat trick and two assists.

“We haven’t had a challenge like that in a in a while, where we’re behind the entire game, so it was just great to see like where our headspace is in that type of environment,” said Humphrey. “I think that it showed that we’re able to show up when we need it most and we’re Team USA, and we’re gonna come up with big plays when we need it.”

Canada felt a step ahead most of the game until Humphrey tied it sneaking up the left side with four minutes left. Kenzie Kent surveyed and found Apuzzo inside, and she made a sneaky pass from the pipe to LoPinto for a go-ahead goal at 14-13.

Kylea Dobson responded for Canada, but LoPinto found a soft spot in the slot on the power play to throw the game-winning dagger.

Nicole Perroni (4G) and Erica Evans (3G) led Canada scoring, but four penalties in the final three minutes proved costly.

The Pan-American Sixes Lacrosse Championships comes in qualifying season for World Lacrosse. After the field for the 2027 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship was solidified earlier this summer, Sixes takes center stage. The Pan-American Sixes Lacrosse Championships is a qualifier to the 2027 World Lacrosse Sixes Championships in Colorado Springs, and the Asia-Pacific event is right on its heels. That event will be the main qualifying event for the 2028 Olympics.

“Every time I step out on the Sixes team, I view it as like you’re competing for a spot on the Olympic team. So you know you can’t give a training camp or you can’t cruise through any of these tournaments,” Humphrey said. “All of us want USA to win gold in the Olympics. Like that is the ultimate goal. So everyone just works individually on their own. Then when we come together, magic happens.”

For the USA men, it took every second. Pat Kavanagh’s game-winner in a 12-11 gold matchup with Canada came in the final second of play as the Americans scored two goals in the final minute.

The U.S. prodded on a man-up for Kavanagh to step into the decisive finish.

“We’ve been practicing our man-up sets all week. Came out of the timeout and just excecuted,” Kavanagh said. “We knew it was going to be a battle. They’ve had our number, they’ve had every country in the world’s number in the Sixes discipline, it’s more of a box format. We knew we were fighting an uphill battle. USA lacrosse took a good step forward here.”

Coulter Mackesy scored the game-tying goal after a back-and-forth sequence that resulted in Liam Entenmann reaching back to stop an Ian MacKay 1v1 with Matt Campbell hustling back. They got the ball to Joey Spallina, who quickly passed ahead and found Mackesy on the pipe. The power play advantage from MacKay running into Entenmann on the other end gave Team USA the power play chance to win it.

Kavanagh (2G), Spallina (3G), Michael Sowers (2G) and Mikey Weisshaar (2G) led scoring.

Argentina, Brazil Earn Final Spots.

The Argentina women beat Jamaica, 17-11 in the fifth-place game, securing the final Pan-Am spot.

The Argentinians had monster games from Sam Geiersbach (7G, 3A) and Gretta White (7G, 1A) to decisively pull away in the second half. White scored four of the goals on that 6-0 run while Geiersbach had the other two to turn a 10-10 tie into a 16-10 runaway.

“There’s a lot of sense of belief and encouragement and trust within our team, which is really awesome,” said Geiersbach. “A lot of us just connect either culture-wise or upbringings of our family, so there’s something that really bonds us and ties us together.”

The Brazil men had to stave off a Jamaica comeback but secured their spot with a 17-15 win in the men’s fifth-place game.

Titus Chapman (4G, 2A) and Dillon Arrant (4G, 2A) led the way, while Jamaica nearly came back thanks to a stretch of goals from Khairi Sears aided by Karl Robison at the X.

“It’s a dream come true for us just to be able to move on to the next round, to be able to go to Colorado Springs and represent the country that we love. So it means everything,” said Chapman.

Haudenosanuee, Puerto Rico Split Bronzes

The Haudenosanuee men beat Puerto Rico, 15-13, in a thrilling victory. The Haudenosaunee came back, then had a final stop to hold off Puerto Rico for bronze.

Warren Hill had 15 saves, and the Haudenosaunee scored the final four goals with Trysen Sunday netting the ultimate winner.

“It was a really good game, and that’s how you always want to finish the tournament, right?” said Hill. “It shows what like every team here is capable of, putting the ball in the net, playing great defense.”

The Puerto Rico women won bronze, 15-9, against the Haudenosaunee. It capped off a special week for Puerto Rico, a huge result compared to their eighth-place finish in the 2026 World Lacrosse Championship.

“We’ve been waiting for this moment for so long. Every time we match up with them, it’s ‘We’re gonna do it, we’re gonna do it,’ and we finally did it today. So it’s a huge sigh of relief, and we’re so excited,” said Skylar Carrasquillo.

Men’s Medal Results