Japan completed its upstart campaign at the 2024 World Lacrosse Women’s U20 Championship by stunning Australia in the bronze medal match, 14-5, at Mong Kok Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Japan’s historic third place finish is its best ever in its eight appearances in the championship, and furthermore, the first bronze medal by Japan at any World Lacrosse championship. The watershed moment came against Australia, who has six medals in the women’s U20 championship, and was the defending bronze medalist from 2019.
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Championship Statistical Leaders
Australia and Japan battled in a high-level matchup featuring well-disciplined teams, tactical intrigue, and electric shotmaking.
Both teams were methodical in establishing their offense and taking care of the ball on a tropical afternoon in Hong Kong, China.
Japan’s defense was much more aggressive in helping towards the middle of the field, while Australia elected to defend one on one more often with increased physicality.
While Australia won the opening draw, Japan forced a turnover and eventually isolated Miri Akiyama for a sweeping dodge from the right side towards the center for the first goal.
After winning the next draw control, Ayame Mizuno followed the same formula to give Japan a 2-0 lead after eight minutes with a lethal double move.
Megan Kitagawa added a nifty finish and Japan was off to a dream start.
But Australia’s offense forced Japan into conceding free position shots, and was ruthless with clever finishes. Miriam Suares-Jury went low and early to cut the deficit to 3-1, and used the same finish early in the second quarter to cut it to 4-2.
Japan opted to control each possession by progressing the ball from the back with its goalkeeper, and Australia defended with an aggressive individual marking scheme, leading to thrilling cat and mouse action on each possession.
With sizable partisan crowds from both fanbases, each possession’s importance felt heightened at Mong Kok Stadium, especially when both teams were prioritizing their shot selection.
That made Ocea Leavy’s heroic goal to cut it to 4-3 all the more impressive after she shrugged off a multitude of Japan defenders to fire home.
But Japan’s defense and loose ball hunting was a tad more opportunistic in the first half with a 5-4 advantage on draw controls and a 7-6 advantage on shots.
Negai Nakawawa added a goal with five minutes left in the half to restore the lead to a key two-goal cushion that Japan took into halftime.
Australia responded in the second half with adjustments on defense to a more zonal and condensed shell, and importantly, it jumped on the first few draw controls of the half.
Even after Japan scored first to lead 6-3, Australia clawed back to 6-5 with another well-taken free-position from Suares-Jury and a clever finish from Holly Dini.
Just when it felt like Australia might come back into the game, Japan adjusted its attack to pull off a perfect tic-tac-toe sequence to give Kitagawa a wide open shot at close range on the assist from Ayame Mizuno.
Japan had more chances with the ball but Natalie Eastwood made her presence felt in net and Australia’s defense kept forcing turnovers to keep them within arm’s reach.
Still, Japan’s relentless dodges into Australia’s back line yielded a free position shot that Akiyama weaved her way into a goal to restore the lead to three into the fourth quarter.
Japan’s defense was able to hound Australia on its clears, and a turnover two minutes into the fourth led to a sweeping Japan counter that Miu Kimura buried to give Japan a 9-5 lead.
From there, Japan turned on the burners literally and figuratively with its energy, and seized more draw controls to feed Kitagawa and Nakazawa for two more goals.
Japan tacked on more in the fourth quarter to win 14-5.
In the end, Japan ran away from its APLU rival in a banner moment for its lacrosse program. In the second half, Japan outshot Australia 11-4 and outdrew its opponent 8-4.
Riho Kasai started the effort for Japan with eight wins on 13 draw controls, and Ayana Kamiya also added five wins.
Kitagawa and Nakazawa were the difference makers in attack with four for Kitigawa and three for Nakazawa, but Mizuno provided two assists and Akiyama scored twice as well.
Nakazawa collected three ground balls. Goalkeepers Yuria Miki and Sumire Shibata combined for three saves.
Suares-Jury led the attack for Australia with three goals and Isabel Jackson added six draw control wins. Suares-Jury also collected four ground balls. Eastwood finished with three saves.
Over the championship, Miri Akiyama and Megan Kitigawa were the standout attackers for Japan with 23 and 21 points, respectively. Ayame Mizuno added eight goals and eight assists,
Negai Nakazawa was one of the best all-around players in the field with nine ground balls and six caused turnovers, in addition to nine goals and three assists. She was selected to the World Team as one of the ten best players in the championship.
Riho Kasai finished with 51 draw control wins in 95 tries and Ayano Kamiya won 31 of 59. Japan’s two goalkeepers, Sumire Shibata and Yuria Miki combined for 35 saves, which was a testament to Japan’s overall strong team defense.
For Australia, its attacking efforts were led by Ocea Leavy, one of the stars in Hong Kong with 27 goals. Miriam Suares-Jury was another electric midfielder with 18 goals and two assists and was named to the World Team.
Marley Dawson finished 51 of 87 on draw controls. Goalkeeper Natalie Eastwood had 37 saves and was one of the leading goalkeepers among the teams.
