Hong Kong's hopes of bettering their previous performance at the Women's U-20 World Lacrosse Championship have been put in jeopardy after a heavy defeat to Ireland.
The hosts lost 20-5 on Sunday and need to beat world No. 5 Japan on Tuesday in their final Pool D match to have any chance of finishing in the top 12. Japan finished 12th in their only appearance in Canada in 2019.
Ireland finished 19th in the last tournament but their match against Hong Kong comes after beating Japan just 17 hours after the home team was heavily defeated by England.
Eloise Bolitho put Hong Kong ahead just 15 seconds into the match at the Hong Kong Football Club, but Ireland fought back with five goals from multiple players to turn the game around.
Ireland added five more points between goals from Hong Kong's Ambi Chan and Aurora Bolitho to make the score 10-3 at halftime.
Ireland added seven more points before Hong Kong had a much closer fourth quarter with goals from Yeung Pei Pei and Tracy Lam, but it was too little too late and they didn't score.
“I saw Ireland beat Japan and I knew they were a strong team,” City head coach Gemini Phan Tach-kwan said. “I think they've improved a lot since 2019.”
Hong Kong needs to finish third in their group to qualify, and to do that they need to beat Japan. A big win for England over Japan later on Sunday could help Hong Kong narrow the goal difference they need to bounce back.
More to come…
