For the first time ever, the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships will be held in The Onondaga Nation.

The event will take place at three venues in and around Syracuse from Sept. 18-27, including the War Memorial Arena, Onondaga Nation Arena and the Carrier Dome.

“It will be our pleasure and our honor to have the game come home,” Onondaga Nation’s Oren Lyons said in a press conference in the Carrier Dome on Thursday evening. “Lacrosse is coming home in 2015.”

The WIL Championship is held every four years and the 2015 tournament will include 13 nations: United States, Canada, Iroquois Nationals, Australia, Czech Republic, England, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Serbia, Switzerland and Turkey.

The opening game will take place at the War Memorial, round-robin games will be played at the Onondaga Nation Arena and the bronze- and gold-medal matches will at the Dome with a capacity of 28,000 fans.

In 2011, Canada took the gold medal, while the Iroquois Nationals finished second and the United States third.

In addition to hosting the games, the Haudenosaunee will host a Cultural Festival on the Nation at Onondaga Nation Arena. Native dancers, musicians and artists from across North America will display their Nation’s values.

“I would like to extend our best wishes and gratitude to the Haudenosaunee for hosting the FIL 2015 World Indoor Lacrosse Championships,” FIL president Stan Cockerton said. “We are confident that hosting the 2015 WILC in Onondaga Nation and in Syracuse will result in an event that will set a benchmark for future events to aspire to.”

Published on April 2, 2015 at 6:08 pm

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman