In placement play on day seven of the women’s U20 championship, Chinese Taipei prevailed over New Zealand, 17-16, in a back and forth thriller at Shek Kip Mei Sports Park that was decided in the final minutes.
New Zealand scored the first five goals of the game in under six minutes and led 9-3 early in the first quarter.
Chinese Taipei quickly erased that lead in another six minutes and the game was tied 9-9.
New Zealand pushed the lead to three early in the third quarter but Chinese Taipei equalized again with just over three minutes to go in the period.
The teams traded goals in an epic fourth quarter – New Zealand led 15-14, then Chinese Taipei led 16-15, and then New Zealand tied it back up with just over five minutes to go.
With under two minutes to play, Chinese Taipei broke the deadlock with a cathartic goal from Annika Wray.
Wray earned the player of the match honors and finished with five goals and three assists. Katherine Lin and Mia Chao each scored four goals and Tabitha Goon provided four assists.
Gemma McCall paced the New Zealand attack with three goals and two assists, while Meg Hazlett posted three goals and one assist. Dinithi Bamunusinghe added three goals.
Chinese Taipei has a day off before facing the winner of Israel for 13th place on Friday at 7 p.m. HKT.
New Zealand will face Hong Kong, China at 4:30 p.m.
