Titans Represented at 2023 World Lacrosse Championship
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SAN DIEGO — The Illinois Wesleyan University lacrosse team had representation at the 2023 World Lacrosse Championship in rising sophomore, Andrew Ortega (Austin, Texas-Westlake) who boasted a Peruvian uniform, and 2017 alumnus Evan Mok-Lamme (Grand Junction, Colo.-Westtown School (Pa.)) on the field for Team Hong Kong.
This year’s championship was held at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, Calif., from June 21 through July 1, and marks the 14th edition of the international men’s lacrosse tournament organized by World Lacrosse. The tournament consists of the world’s top 30 national teams who earned bids through regional qualifying tournaments. The Peruvian Lacrosse Team made its first appearance at a World Lacrosse Championship this year while Hong Kong notched its fifth appearance.
The opportunity for Ortega to compete with Team Peru in its first-ever world championship came on a whim.
“When going to school in Austin there were many people of Hispanic nature, but it was always hard to find people that looked like me on the lacrosse field,” said Ortega. He was first introduced to the Peruvian Lacrosse Team when a high school teammate posted on Instagram playing with the team. It was then that Ortega reached out to Peru’s head coach, who also happened to be a resident of Austin. “I met with him about the team and was instantly hooked, and I was lucky enough for my dad to have been born in Lima. I earned dual citizenship with the United States and Peru to be able to represent my county of heritage, and I was lucky enough to have represented them in the 2023 World Lacrosse Games.”
Ortega’s first games with Peru were in 2022 at the Heritage Cup in Springfield, Mass., and then Medellin, Columbia for the Pan American Lacrosse Association games that served as their regional qualifier for the championships.
Peru competed in Pool F which featured national teams of Ireland, the Netherlands, Latvia, and South Korea. Peru completed pool play with a 1-3 record to take fourth in the pool. From there, Peru was put in the 15th-18th placement games where they lost to the Phillippines 13-4 in the first round, dropping them into the 19th-22nd place bracket. Peru entered the tournament ranked 39th, but ultimately finished 22nd internationally.
“I was thankful to be a part of the team and show how Team Peru could improve and become noticed on the world stage of lacrosse,” Ortega said.
Ortega ranked in the tournament’s top 10 for points (23) and assists (10) with his best performance coming in the game against Ireland where he scored the team’s first four points with three assists and a goal. Although Peru lost 14-9 to Ireland, Ortega finished the game with three goals and three assists. He also put up six points in Peru’s 17-5 win over the Korea Republic with two goals and four assists.
“The experience has been next to none. It’s been a dream to play the sport I love with the people I look like, and I was lucky enough for the experience to happen,” said Ortega. “We call each other brothers, and that’s what we really are. The trip to San Diego was full of lifetime memories, from playing games to beach trips, sunset shooting practices, and bonfires.”
Mok-Lamme was a member of the Illinois Wesleyan men’s lacrosse program’s inaugural season in 2014. He was a two-time all-conference honoree, being named to the second team his junior year and first team his senior season. He was named the Titan’s “11th Man of the Year” in 2015 and 2017. In his senior season, Illinois Wesleyan made its first-ever appearance in an NCAA Division III tournament. Mok-Lamme ranks in the program’s top 10 for career points (172), goals (119), goals per game (1.72), assists (53), assists per game (0.77), and ground balls (153).
“We are really proud of both Andrew Ortega and Evan Mok-Lamme,” said Illinois Wesleyan head men’s lacrosse coach Zach Iannucci. “Evan was a part of our first graduating class and was instrumental in helping build the foundation of our program. Along with the rest of Evan’s graduating class, they all deserve so much credit for the success of our program today.”
At the world championship, Mok-Lamme and Hong Kong competed in Pool E with Italy, Scotland, Mexico, and Austria. They finished second in the pool with a 3-1 record before finishing 13th overall in the tournament. Mok-Lamme put up 10 points with seven goals and three assists. His best performance came in Hong Kong’s 13-5 loss against Italy where he posted two goals and one assist – he also had two of the team’s three goals against Haudenosaunee.
“Andrew and Evan actually met for the first time at the World Games and it speaks to the growth of the game and how powerful being a part of not just a team, but a program is. I think it speaks to their love of the game and their hard work to put themselves in a position to be able to play at the international level. Both guys have been incredibly hard workers, love the game, and are great ambassadors for our program. All of us are super proud of them.”
Another IWU alumnus, Tom Lyons ’19 (Palos Heights, Ill.-St. Laurence), competed internationally having been a part of the U19 Ireland National Team back in 2016. In its final game of the U19 World Championships, Ireland defeated Germany 16-12, a game in which Lyons scored five goals including the game-winner to finish seventh in the tournament.
Pictured: Andrew Ortega (Left) and Evan Mok Lamme (Right)
