Both Australia and Japan remained unbeaten at the 2025 Asia-Pacific Women’s Lacrosse Championship with convincing semifinal wins on the Friday, setting up a blockbuster gold medal game on Saturday evening in Queensland.
Australia coasted past Chinese Taipei 24-3 and Japan kept the Philippines in check in a 13-4 win.
The two teams will meet on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. AEST as Japan searches for its sixth title in this event while Australia goes for its first on home soil.
Chinese Taipei and the Philippines will play for the bronze medal.
Hong Kong, China and New Zealand won elsewhere to advance to the fifth place game while Korea and China will play for seventh place.
Australia saw 11 different players contribute goals in the first semifinal of the day against Chinese Taipei, with eight players registering multiple goal efforts. Danelle Mollison led the way with four goals.
Rebecca Lane was named the player of the match for her two-way contributions in the midfield.
“It means the world [to advance],” said Lane after the game. “Our whole campaign, we’re trying to focus on the legacy of Australian lacrosse and paving the way for the future. We have a lot of young guns and a really athletic squad and we’re growing every game and trying to execute at an elite level.”
Japan’s defensive pressure was key in slowing down the Philippines in the second semifinal of the day, and Japan’s overall relentlessness came through in a 5-1 third quarter that broke the game open from 5-3 to 10-4.
Offensively, Negai Nakazawa fired in four goals, with hat tricks for Miri Akiyama and Ayame Mizuno as well.
Nakazawa was named the player of the match.
“This win was what we’ve been practicing for, so it was really important to us,” said Nakazawa. “Obviously, it is going to be a really tough game, but we are going to come together more and go for that gold medal.”
Hong Kong, China opened the day with a composed effort to handle Korea, as Steffi Charlene Sze scored three times and Mya Wang added four points. Wang was named the player of the match.
Mackenzie Farley scored four times for Korea.
In the second game of the day, New Zealand handled China with three goals from Lily Fu, and three-point efforts from Keita Perry and Alannah Mouat. Anja Kuys was named the player of the game and had two goals.
Lauren Lam scored four times for China.
