In a battle with a playoff spot in the line in Pool A, Puerto Rico eclipsed China for a massive 16-11 win in the opening game of day five at the women’s U20 championship.
China was 2-1 entering the game and Puerto Rico was 1-1, but the result drops China to 2-2 and improves Puerto Rico to 2-1, with one game remaining against Germany on Tuesday. Regardless of that result, Puerto Rico owns head to head tiebreakers over China and Israel, the only two other teams that have or could get to two wins.
Puerto Rico is the fourth team to clinch its playoff spot in Hong Kong, and will be seeded from #5 – #8 as a second place finisher in its pool. The quarterfinals begin on Wednesday.
The stakes set the stage for a tense contest in the morning at Hong Kong Football Club Stadium, and the two teams traded goals throughout an exciting first half that finished 8-7 in favor of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico led three separate times and extended the lead to three, but China kept responding with goals from Lauren Ruilan Lam and Teagn Tianqin Ng.
Puerto Rico put its foot on the gas pedal instead the opening minutes of the second half to seize control of the game with a 5-1 run to make it 13-8, starting with a goal 20 seconds into the third quarter.
Lucia Nash’s work on draw controls was vital, and she finished with a 14/18 win rate that won her the player of the match award.
While China cut the lead to three twice in the fourth quarter, Puerto Rico never let the game get closer than that.
The Puerto Rican attacking variety was just enough to outpace China, who received 11 goals from four players and three with multi-goal efforts. Puerto Rico found eight players to contribute goals, including five with multi-goal efforts.
Maya Maldonado led the way with two goals and three assists, complemented by Hannah Lewis, with three goals and two assists. Victoria Rankin and Alexis Vega added three goals each and Nash chipped in two.
Teagan Tianqin Ng scored five goals in another impressive outing for China. Lauren Ruilan Lam added four points and Kit Pingyu Zanelli had three points.
Goalkeeper Jody Qijia Chu made 11 saves to keep China in the game on a high volume of shots faced.
China finished pool play with wins over Israel and Germany and will have compelling matchups remaining in placement play to improve on its 14th place finish in 2019.
