Top seeded USA (4-0) continues its tournament dominance with an impressive 17-3 win over previously unbeaten #2 Canada (3-1). Australia (2-2), Wales (1-3), Haudenosaunee (4-0), Hong Kong (1-3), Israel (3-0), Czech Republic (3-1), Latvia (2-1) and Japan (4-0) also win on day five.FROM SUNDAY 16 JULY 2017 GAMES—From English Lacrosse (Photos: Ady Kerry QEP)POOL AUSA 17 v 3 Canada
USA laid down a big marker to the rest of the competition by comfortably beating #2 Canada 17-3.
The goals were spread throughout the team with Alex Aust claiming a hat-trick and six others scoring a brace including MVP Michelle Tumolo.
Canada kept it tight in the opening stages matching up to the US and Dana Dobbie scored an outrageous 50-yard goal after Devon Wills was caught out of net to make it pull a goal back after USA had gone 2-0 up after 10 minutes.
However, USA put four in in quick succession just before half-time, Tumolo instrumental in the build-up play to go in to the half 7-2 up and break the spirits of the Canadians.
The four at the end of the first-half were followed by 10 unanswered goals throughout the second-half as USA fully flexed their attacking muscle to which the Canadian defence, which has been extremely solid in previous matches, had no answer to.
Alie Jimerson did score a consolation four minutes from time capitalising on a rare misplaced pass.
USA will look to complete a perfect 5/5 in pool play against Wales on Tuesday at 5pm while Canada will have an important game against England at 6pm in deciding final pool places for the quarter-finals.
BOX SCOREAustralia 13 v 4 England
Australia gave their best performance of the tournament to date to defeat England in what was anticipated to be a close encounter based on the two teams’ previous encounters over the last year.
England started well, Jenny Simpson opening the scoring off a good feed from Olivia Hompe. Mollison and Burgess responded for Australia before Whittle levelled the scoring off a free position; however, Whittle was injured during the foul and was withdrawn from the game after the FPS which left England without their top scorer and they struggled to convert their chances from then on.
Kwas, Hiron, Nielsen and Mollison again all scored before half-time to give the Aussies a 6-3 lead.
After being outmuscled on the draw, Hompe was moved to takeover for England and won three consecutive draws but the attack was unable to turn the possession into goals as Bree Hussey finished with an 86% save rate.
The experience of Hannah Nielsen also shone through in the second-half as she was allowed to control the play from the ‘X’, setting up MVP Abbie Burgess for two goals in quick succession, Burgess finished with three goals and 9/16 on the draw.
As England chased the game, holes appeared in the defence and Australia scored further late goals, Charlotte Lytollis’ good break and low shot being England’s only highlight of the second-half as the Green and Gold beat their old rivals fairly comfortably in the end.
England will look for a confidence boost against Canada on Tuesday at 6pm, while Australia play Scotland at 2pm.
BOX SCOREWales 11 v 7 Scotland
Wales came through a testing encounter with Scotland to record their first win of the tournament and leave Scotland 0-4 with a 11-7 win.
Laura Warren’s direct running and clever movement when in possession saw her bag 5 goals and the MVP award for her side.
It was very much a game of two differing styles as Wales looked to test the Scotland defence with fast ball movement and good use of the crease, while Scotland were content with holding long spells of settled possession often leaving Wales to defend for minutes on end to try and find a lapse in concentration.
After Wales raced into a 5-1 lead after 12:00 it looked like being a forgone conclusion, but the patient work from Scotland began to pay off and Scotland came back with three of their own as Ailsa Stott proved effective from Centre scoring two goals in the first and two in the second.
Warren’s most impressive goal came just before the buzzer as Wales turned over a loose Scottish pass, Coombes-Roberts got it off to Waren who sprinted 40 yards to finish under the goalie with 0.7seconds on the clock to go in 7-4 up at the half.
The game continued in very much the same vain after the interval with some end to end action, Wales working some good goals from the crease through Amy Martin and Lloyd-Rout.
Scotland were dominant off the draw in the second-half testing the Welsh defence even further but Walters-Williams pulled off a number of saves to always keep her side in front.
Wales (1-3) eventually saw the game out and will face Australia (2-2) in their last Pool match on Tuesday at 5pm with Scotland (0-4) looking for a first win against Canada (3-1) at 2pm.
BOX SCOREPOOL BHaudenosaunee 11 v 10 Italy
Pool B leaders Haudenosaunee faced their toughest challenge yet with an Italian side that won’t be dishearten or pushed out of game. Haudenosaunee eventually added a 4th win to their campaign making it a clean sweep in their Pool.
Lacrosse is often referred to as “a game of runs”. Italy’s game against the Haudenosaunee was the epitome of that reference when Italy refused to lie down. Haudenosaunee took some time to break through the defence but scored 2 in quick succession. Both teams then went on 2 goal runs 3 times and eventually tying the game up at 6-6.
What was already a tense battle found another gear and stepped up in the last 10minutes. Erin Francis netted 3 consecutive goals for a quick hat trick put the Haudenosaunee ahead. Haudenosaunee midfielder Dana Isaacs was then issued a Yellow Red card leaving the field and the door open for Italy over the next 5minutes. Grabbing 3 of their own Italy pulled it back and again emotions were running high with déjà vu-esque repeat of their game the previous day with Korea.
Unfortunately, it was not Italy’s day, Haudenosaunee remained unbeaten when Jacelyn Lazore scored the game winner with under 1minute to go. Haudenosaunee coach took a well-placed time out to draw up a play ensuring victory to which the team executed well.
Haudenosaunee remain undefeated and will next face the also unbeaten New Zealand BLAX on Tuesday 18th at 12:00.
Italy will play Switzerland in game where they are favourites they play on Tuesday 18th at 15:00.
BOX SCORESwitzerland 3 v 7 Hong Kong
Two quite evenly matched teams faced each other in this Pool B fixture. Both were looking for their first wins of the tournament, Hong Kong came up on top with a strong second half performance.
Another end-to-end game for Switzerland that didn’t fall in their favour. The Swiss were put under pressure as Hong Kong gained the first draw control. Switzerland’s defence was resilient led by #13 Maja Keller in goal only conceding one in the first half. The offense lacked the ability to find the net at the other end and couldn’t take the lead.
Hong Kong went into the half time break just 1 goal up. With inspiration swirling in their minds Hong Kong’s 1 became 3. Katherine Barker would put in another for Hong Kong before Switzerland grab their first of the game. Teams then traded goals all the way to the end Hong Kong retained their 4 goal advantage winning 7-3.
MVP went to Hong Kong’s #2 Hiu Tan Liu.
Hong Kong will be riding the high of this win heading into their most anticipated game of Pool B against Korea on Monday 17th at 11:00
Switzerland have another tough game when they play Italy on Monday 17th at 12:00. Switzerland will very much be looking for the upset over Italy who gave Pool leaders Haudenosaunee a run for their money.
BOX SCOREPOOL CIsrael 18 v 0 China
Israel maintained their unbeaten record with a comfortable win against China.
Shirel Fresh (4G), Nikol Baglay (3G) and Cheban, Miller and A.Steinberg all 2G took advantage of their opportunities and added to their scoring tallies for the tournament.
However, the unsung hero and MVP was China’s goalie Chen Yushu who made an incredible 19 saves, still finishing with a 51% save success rate and was deservedly awarded the MVP award.
Israel will conclude against Belgium on Monday at 5pm while China finish up against Netherlands at 2pm.
BOX SCORECzech Republic 21 v 1 Belgium
Michaela Srchova became the tournament leading point scorer after a 9-point game (7G, 2A) as Czech Republic beat Belgium 21-1.
Czech Republic have looked powerful in front of goal all tournament and today was no exception racking up 16 goals before half-time.
Deidre Perquy got on the scoresheet with Belgium’s only goal after 13:42, but were unable to make any further impression.
Adela Blahovcova also ended up with six goals as the Czechs now look ahead to the next stages stages after they were assured of 2nd place in Pool C. Belgium will play their last pool game against Israel today at 3pm.
BOX SCOREPOOL DMexico 6 v 7 Latvia
The watching fans were treated to a thriller on Pitch 2 as Latvia squeezed past Mexico 7-6 in an end to end encounter.
Suzanna Penikis’ four goals were vital for the Latvians while Sophia Eigo led with three for Mexico as they missed out by one.
The game was all tied at 3-3 at half-time and going in to the last minute Latvia were 7-5 ahead.
However, Eigo scored with 30 seconds to go and Mexico then won the following draw to launch one last attack which was superbly thwarted by Lika Viga to give her team the victory.
Latvia face Germany on Monday in their last Pool match at 2.30pm while Mexico finish up against Spain at 11.30am.
BOX SCORESpain 1 v 27 Japan
Japan cemented their place at the top of the tournament scoring charts with a dominant 27-1 victory against Spain.
MVP Nana Konishi was in inspired form with 3G, 6A to provide her team with the platform to take control.
Japan hit 13 in the first-half before following up with 14 in the second to keep up a relentless scoring streak.
Kathryn Restrepo scored Spain’s only goal in the first-half as Japan finished the pool play 4-0. Spain (0-3) finish up against Mexico (0-3) at 11.30am today.
BOX SCOREPOOL EIreland 20 v 2 Sweden
Ireland put in a great first-half performance, scoring 14 goals to finish 2nd in Pool E with a 2-1 record.
Caroline Peters recorded a 12-point game with 6G, 6A to lead the stats for Ireland.
Bim Boijsen scored after 05:38 and Helene Hollingworth just before half-time to give the Swedish support something to celebrate but that was as good as it got as they finished Pool E in 3rd place (1-2).
Both teams will resume action in the next stages on Tuesday.
BOX SCORENew Zealand 21 v 0 Colombia
New Zealand put in a faultless performance over a visibly weakened Colombian side to dominate the game in a 21-0 victory.
Colombian’s struggled to gain any meaningful possession with the intimidating BLAX swarming them at every moment. The NZ BLAX worked together to get 11 different players on the score board.
Notable performance came from Julia Gasston netting 4 goals and bagging 3 of her own and assisting a 4th. MVP went to Nicole Goode who demonstrated a balance of team play and individual effort causing the Colombian defence much grief as she scored 3 and assisted for 3 more.
New Zealand face the might of the Haudenosaunee on Tuesday 18th at 12:00
Colombia remain high spirited and seem to be enjoying the experience of the World Cup they now face Korea on Tuesday 18th at 16:30
BOX SCOREOriginal story at English Lacrosse: RWLC17 Daily Recap – Day 5
