Australia take down Wales, set up semifinal showdown with United States
Australia have moved into the medal rounds at the 2024 WL Womens U20 Championship after defeating Wales to open Wednesday’s quarterfinal action.
With a semifinal spot on the line, Miriam Suares-Jury gave Australia a great opening, scoring the Aussies opening 2 goals inside 5 minutes. Gabby Robert got one back for Wales but Australia responded with Ocea Leavy and Dani Cox extending the lead to 4-1. Wales got one back to keep themselves close at the first change but a dominant start to the second quarter proved pivotal as Meg Bown, Holly Plummer and Leavy turned the game on its head, racing to a 7 – 2 lead. Australia would keep the foot down heading into the half with Australia’s defence restricting Wales to only 3 goals, ensuring that Australia lead 9 – 3 at the main break.
After downing the Haudenosaunee a day earlier, Wales were not going to go away and they scored first in the second half and with some excellent defence and goalkeeping slowing the free-flowing Australian offence. However, Australia’s defence was also dominant with the likes of Meg Bown, Abbey Burns and Jade Mangan leading a stout backline which denied Wales any good looks. That saw the second half turn into a defensive tussle with Australia being shutout in the third however Wales could only manage 1 of their own. Ashlyn May however broke the scoring drought in the final quarter to give Australia a 6-goal lead. Wales did get one back with 9 minutes on the clock but a goal to Plummer with 5 minutes left, sealed the win seeing Australia progress to tomorrow’s semifinal at Mong Kok Stadium.
Australia will now wait to see who they will meet with a spot in the Gold Medal game on the line with our Aussies meeting the winner of the United States and Puerto Rico. Wales meanwhile will now fall back into the 5 – 8 bracket where they will meet the loser of the United States and Puerto Rico game.
