USA vs. Israel 2015 World Lacrosse Championships Game Date and Start Time

Despite its best efforts and an impressive outing throughout a majority of the tournament, the United States couldn’t overcome its inevitable fate, falling to the Iroquois Nationals in the semifinals of the 2015 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship.

Although the U.S. played Iroquois tight in their first matchup, this time around, things were over quickly, with the United States falling behind 11-4 by halftime and never mounting enough of a comeback in the second half.

Having finished third in each of the last three tournaments, the United States will hope to rally from a deflating loss and secure the bronze once again, with Israel standing in the Americans' way in the third-place game. Can the U.S. win its fourth straight bronze medal in the tournament? Let’s take a look at Sunday’s game.

United States vs. Israel

Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

Date and Time: Sept. 27; 1 p.m. ET

Venue: Carrier Dome; Syracuse, New York

With the top three finishers in each of the last three tournaments—Canada, Iroquois and the United States, in that order—there had to be a fourth team to complete the semifinals with the inevitable top three, and in the 2015 iteration, Israel holds that honor.

Coming off a 19-3 thrashing at the hands of the tournament’s favorites, Canada—although so far, almost everyone has been destroyed by the Canadians—Israel can’t let its previous result get it down, or else it faces the same fate at the hands of the Americans in the third-place game.

So far, Israel has a better record than the Americans in the tournament, only losing twice, but it is still a heavy underdog because of the United States' traditional spot among the top three teams in the world.

The best bet for Israel to pull off the monumental upset would be to get Zachary Pall and Chad Culp, who has the fourth-most assists in the tournament at 23, to try to keep up with the Americans. Although Zachary Higgins has had a decent tournament so far, the chances of slowing down the Americans are slim, so Israel will need to keep up to keep it close.

For the United States, it really should just be business as usual if the fourth straight bronze is set to stay with the Americans. Only losing to Iroquois and Canada so far, there isn’t any reason to expect things will change against Israel, which doesn't seem to have the firepower to stay in the game for long.

Joe Walters is tied for second in the tournament with 24 assists and is eighth in overall points, and Garrett Thul, Kevin Buchanan and Casey Powell all have the potential to go off at any given time, which puts Israel in a tough spot.

Against the two finalists, the United States has scored 26 goals and allowed 48, but the Americans have scored 49 and allowed 18 against the rest of their opponents. Israel might be the fourth-best team in the tournament, but the odds aren’t in its favor in the third-place game.

Anything can happen, especially if the United States is still reeling from another defeat at the hands of Iroquois, but there is a reason the Americans have finished in third in each of the last three tournaments.

The 2015 version seems destined to repeat the past.

Stats courtesy of WILC2015.com.