SAN DIEGO – Zach Goodrich and Greg Penczek helped Team USA to a gold medal finish in the 2023 World Championship on Saturday with the USA's 10-7 victory vs. Canada in the title game.
 
Goodrich '19 served as one of the team's defensive midfielders while Penczek was an athletic trainer for the United States.
 
During the title game, Goodrich was tasked with taking on two-time National Lacrosse League MVP Dhane Smith.  He played five games and helped a Team USA defense which allowed just four goals per game in the tournament, playing primarily Blue Division teams, made up of the top-five teams in the world.
 
Penczek, the athletic trainer for Towson men's lacrosse, was named a trainer for Team USA in 2019, being a part of the support staff of the world champion.
 
Team USA defends its place as world champion, having won the 2018 title in Israel.  In earlier years, Towson has had players on several Team USA world champions, including 1982 (Jim Darcangelo, Bob Griebe), 1986 (Jim Darcangelo), 1994 (Lindsay Dixon, Tony Millon, Rob Shek), 1998 (Rob Shek) and 2023 (Zach Goodrich).
 
In other Towson news in the World Championship, Fred Lee '08 helped New Zealand to a 25^th place finish, capped with a 10-8 victory over Korea Republic in the team's final game.  Lee, wearing No. 24 for New Zealand as he did at Towson, started five games on close defense.