LAKELAND, Fla. – Florida Southern College men's lacrosse head coach
Marty Ward and rising redshirt freshman attacker
Nick Bucello are traveling to Seogwipo, South Korea to compete at the 2025 U20 World Lacrosse Championships Aug. 15-24. Ward will be serving as the head coach of the Haudenosaunee (ho-dee-no-show-nee) Nationals team while Bucello will take the field for Puerto Rico.
The Haudenosaunee Nationals and the Puerto Rican National Team are two of 20 teams from around the world competing for the World Championship. Ward will guide his team into Pool A which features two-time runner-up Australia, seven-time runner-up Canada and nine-time defending champion the United States.
There have been 27 total medals handed out at the U20 World Championships since its inaugural competition in 1988. All but one medal has been captured by the four teams in Pool A. The United States leads with nine total medals, all gold. Canada is second with nine medals as well including seven silver and two bronze. Australia sits in third all-time with four medals including two silver and two bronze while the Haudenosaunee hold four total medals, all bronze. The lone medal not to come from the four teams is a bronze held by England.
Bucello and Puerto Rican National Team will compete in Pool E alongside Germany, Kenya and Chinese Taipei. This marks just the second trip to the U20 World Championships for the Puerto Rican National Team which placed eighth in 2022. Germany makes its sixth-straight trip to the U20 World Championships with a best finish of sixth coming in 2008. Kenya makes its second trip to Worlds as well after finishing 20
th in 2022. Chinese Taipei makes its third-straight appearance with its best finish coming in 2016 while placing 14
th.
Nick will be joined on the National Team by his brother Dominic who is committed to Lenoir-Rhyne. Some of their teammates include student-athletes at Post, Kean, Hofstra, Queens, and Messiah.
Bucello will be the first Florida Southern representative to take the field as his Puerto Rican National Team takes on Germany at 11 a.m. (10 p.m. (ET)) on Saturday, Aug. 16. South Korea is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Time in the United States which means the Saturday contest will be live Friday night at 10 p.m. in the Eastern Time Zone. Ward will lead the Haudenosaunee Nationals in the very next game versus Australia at 4 p.m. (3 a.m. (ET)). The Haudenosaunee Nationals get right back to action on Sunday, Aug. 17 at 11 a.m. (10 p.m. (ET)) versus the United States while Puerto Rico plays at 7 p.m. (6 a.m. (ET)) against Kenya. After one day off, both teams return to action Tuesday, Aug. 19 for their final pool play games. The Haudenosaunee will face off against Canada at 10 a.m. (9 p.m. (ET)) while Puerto Rico takes on Chinese Taipei at 4 p.m. (3 a.m. (ET)).
Ward has served as the head coach at Florida Southern College since 2011 and has led the Moccasins 118 victories with his teams advancing to five Sunshine State Conference Tournament Championship contests including back-to-back appearances in 2022 and 2023. He has coached all 14 USILA All-Americans in program history including the first, First Team All-American in program history
Jacob Czyz.
Ward is a member of the Cherokee Nation and has competed for the Haudenosaunee, formerly Iroquois, Nationals, helping the team medal as a goaltender in 2014. He was also a member of the 2006 and 2010 Men's National teams. He is currently the only Indigenous Head Coach at any level in the NCAA. He served as an assistant coach on the 2012 U19 Haudenosaunee Nationals team that captured the bronze medal in Turku, Finland and defeated Team USA for the first time in program history.
The Haudenosaunee are credited with inventing lacrosse, North America's oldest organized sport. The game is still used as a spiritual and healing game throughout the Haudenosaunee territories.
The Haudenosaunee Nationals Lacrosse Organization is an indigenous sports organization (the only one of its kind in the world) that competes on the world stage. They are sanctioned by the sovereign Haudenosaunee Grand Council and are governed by the Haudenosaunee Nationals Board of Directors. The Haudenosaunee Nationals Board of Trustees is the fiscal arm of the Haudenosaunee Nationals. To find out more about the organization visit
www.haudenosauneenationals.com.
