Italy beats the Kiwi lacrosse team (Photo World Lacrosse)
Mexico and Italy earned comfortable semifinal wins yesterday at the World Lacrosse Women’s Championship Division II in Wroclaw, Poland to advance to the gold medal games on Saturday.
Italy suffocated New Zealand’s attack, which had previously been one of the best in the tournament, by allowing just one goal in the first half. Haley Mario had a hat trick and veteran Stephanie Colson stepped up with two goals to be named player of the match.
Mexico rode a hot start from Sophia Lima, who scored four goals within 15 minutes, and then pulled away from Korea’s mid-game comeback effort with a 5-1 final quarter. Lima finished the game with six goals and three assists for one of the best individual performances of the tournament. Lola Aguirre Moon added three goals and two assists and was named the player of the match.
Mexico and Italy will meet in the gold medal game on Saturday in a rematch of pool play, which was a hard-fought three-goal win for Mexico.
New Zealand and Korea will play for bronze, in another pool play rematch, which came down to two goals in the final 10 minutes of a close encounter.
Today’s action will feature placement play for the other eight teams in Wroclaw.
