World Lacrosse Women’s U20 Championship: Japan complete double over England to reach semis
- Second victory over the English in four days guarantees Japan’s best showing at the tournament
Japan will finish in the top four for the first time at the World Lacrosse Women’s U20 Championship after beating England for a second time in four days on Wednesday.
England have never finished lower than fourth and Japan never higher than fifth, with both ever-present since the first tournament in 1995 and ranked four and five this time.
But the pecking order changed with a 12-6 quarter-final win for Asia’s leading team at Hong Kong Football Club.
The Japanese fell behind to a pair of Annie Mather goals in the opening minutes, but responded with three of their own and never looked back, three days after overcoming the same side 12-7 in the group stage.
That made it four straight victories for Japan since their 12-11 opening loss to Ireland.
Megan Kitagawa, who scored a goal in each win over England, has been instrumental for her side throughout the tournament, having notched up 11 goals and four assists – second only to Miri Akiyama’s 14 goals and four assists.
