England's women play defending champions United States
England's women will play defending champions United States
in the semi-finals here at the World Championship, tomorrow
(Friday) after a nail-biting 6-5 over-time victory over Wales.
Lois Richardson's team led 2-0 and 3-2 after a close first-half,
before Lauren Warren levelled for Wales with the scores at
5-5 with 5.8 seconds of the second half remaining.
But Lucy Lynch, playing in her first World Championship,
scored on the buzzer at the end of the first three-minute
period of over-time, a goal which was enough to see England
triumph.
England were beaten by the U.S. in the pool stages, but will
be looking for revenge to earn a place in this year's showcase
final at the Navy Marines Corps Memorial Stadium.
"In a nutshell we didn't play very well, but we're through
to the semi-finals," admitted Richardson.
"We had plenty of shots in the first-half, didn't convert
them and Wales battled for everything."
Indeed, but it was from the draw which England really suffered,
losing 10-3 against opponents they defeated 6-2 in the pool
stages at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility last Sunday.
"We gave Wales too much possession. We just couldn't
seem to win the ball from the draw," added Richardson,
who is looking for a marked improvement from her side as they
try and make the cut for the last 2.
"Our draws were appalling, we might as well have given
them possession from the start.
"There were lots of good individual performances and
some players played their hearts out, but there not enough
of the players doing that."
England have not lost to Wales for at least a decade if you
trawl back through the record books, but in over-time, after
Warren's late leveller, anything could have happened.
Lynch's late winner, though, caused controversy as it went
in right on the buzzer, although Wales debated that the ball
had not hit the back of the net with the buzzer having sounded
for half-time, in over-time.
"The ball hadn't crossed the line when the buzzer went,"
said a disappointed Margaret Corbitt, the Wales head coach.
"We're absolutely heartbroken because we were the better
team.
"To miss out on a semi-final place on that goal, after
a quality game, is hard to swallow.
"It's gutting because we deserved much better. We knew
we had to put in a performance we'd be proud of and the players
gave everything they had. I can't fault them for the way we
played."
Ailsa Stott and Katy Bennett both scored doubles for England,
while Sarah Butt and Lynch were also on target.
Wales saw Sian Astley (2), Rosalind Lloyd, Kate Taylor and
Warren get their goals.
Earlier, Canada fought back from 11-7 to defeat Japan in
the first of the day's quarter-finals.
WOMEN, Lacrosse World Championship (Annapolis, Maryland)
- Quarter-finals: England 6 Wales 5 (half scores 3-2, 2-3,
1-0 after over-time); Japan 11 Canada 13 (7-7, 4-6).
|