The Haudenosaunee finished their campaign at the 2024 World Lacrosse Women’s U20 Championship with a 16-14 win over Mexico in the 11th place match at Hong Kong Football Club Stadium on Friday morning.
The Haudenosaunee ended with three wins in Hong Kong, China while Mexico finished with two wins and in 12th place.
Mexico improved three spots from its first appearance at the women’s U20 championship in 2019.
Mexico led 4-3 after a back-and-forth first quarter with runs on both sides. Mexico scored first in the second before two Haudenosaunee goals tied the game at 5-5. The Haudenosaunee took a 7-6 lead with under five minutes to play in the half, and after Mexico scored, they snuck in a goal with 10 seconds left. Avery Doran had three goals and an assist in the half.
The Haudenosaunee came out of halftime with renewed energy and reeled off a five goal run in five minutes to lead 13-7, with two goals from Tallis Tarbell.
The Haudenosaunee closed the quarter strong as well with two goals from Doran and one from Tarbell 30 seconds into the fourth period to lead 16-8.
Down eight goals with 14 and a half minutes to play, the result might have seemed like a foregone conclusion, but Mexico caught fire with a six-goal run that has been one of the hallmarks of their tournament.
Natali Acosta and Kendall Conrad each scored twice in the run, but the 13th goal came with under two minutes to play and the 14th goal came with a minute to play, as Mexico ran out of time.
Doran was named the player of the match with a crucial seven-goal, one-assist showing. Tarbell added three goals and Chloe Luther posted three goals and an assist.
Kimora Swamp and Sophie Powless finished with seven combined saves.
Acosta, Conrad and Torres finished with three, four and five points, respectively, for Mexico. Goalkeeper Bella McCullough made six saves in the second half.
For the tournament, Doran ended with 18 goals and four assists for the Haudenosaunee. Luther recorded 11 goals and five assists and Jianna Lazore had three goals and 10 assists. Paisley Cook finished with 63 draws won and a team-high six caused turnovers. Kimaura Schindler also had nine ground balls and five caused turnovers.
Swamp and Powless split time in net and combined for 50 saves.
Mexico’s attack was led by the high-flying quartet of Elena Torres, Acosta, Conrad and Lola Aguirre. Torres scores 25 goals and added six assists and 36 draw control wins while Conrad scored 17 goals. Conrad contributed 11 goals and three assists while Aguirre notched 15 goals, five assists, 12 ground balls and six caused turnovers to go with a 34 of 59 win rate on draw controls.
McCullough made 41 saves in six games. Macey Torres had eight ground balls and four caused turnovers.
