Bermuda Under 19s remain undefeated in their first appearance at the World Lacrosse Championships after beating Finland 11-5 in their opening match on Thursday and securing a last minute shock 6-5 victory over Wales yesterday.

In what coach Steve Michel described as "a nail-bitingly close game" Bermuda went into the third period against Wales a goal down until Matt Restaino put the Islanders level late in the period.

The fourth period remained scoreless until the 18th minute when Restaino scored the winner with an assist by Tyler Masters to put Bermuda on top.

Michel was ecstatic after the game. "It was a hard-nosed, well-fought battle," he said. "Wales came at us with a lot of emotion and character and our team stepped up and matched their effort stride for stride.

"Considering the limited amount of practice time we had with the team coming into this tournament, I was surprised at how well we did in our first game and to pull off our second win and stay undefeated in this tournament, is in a word - amazing," he said.

On Thursday, Bermuda sailed through their first game handily besting Finland by six goals.

"The best thing about our game against Finland was the balance in the scoring - seven different players accounted for our 11 goals, which means we are working together as a team to create a lot of scoring opportunities," Michel said.

Points came by way of Masters and Chris Sullivan who each scored two goals for the team, co-captains Tucker Moore and DJ Johnston both netting along with Judd Smith and Kyle Tucker. Restaino contributed a hefty three goals to solidify Bermuda's win.

No rest for the weary as Bermuda now focus on Germany who they play tomorrow.

Germany are currently in first place having beat Wales 7-5 and played Scotland yesterday.

"Germany will be another tough game for us. They are mostly made up of players from their home country; however, they are a little older and physically larger than our players.

"We will be tested again but with two wins under our belts, we have the confidence that is needed to go further into the tournament," said Michel.

Should Bermuda beat Germany tomorrow, it will enable them to play teams in the top division of the tournament, which includes USA, Canada and the Iroquois nation.

Bermuda Lacrosse Association president, Mike Totman was almost at loss for words, but described the team's success as a momentous occasion for the sport.

"We have a chance to make history here," he added.

Scores, statistics and schedules for the tournament are available at: http://bermudalacrosse.wordpress.com/ and http://www.2008worldlax.com/.