HONG KONG – The Haudenosaunee Nationals U20 Women kicked off their journey to a World Championship with a 19-8 victory over Korea in their first game of Pool B competition. Haudenosaunee had ten different players score goals, led by hat tricks from Avery Doran and Mia Mitchell. Paisley Cook chipped in with two goals and two assists, Gracie Williams added two goals and an assist, Addison Jimerson and Kendyl Pollack each finished with two goals, and Wynter Jock earned player of the game honors adding a goal and three assists, as she helped control the offensive tempo for much of the game. Sophie Powless backstopped the defense between the pipes for her first win of the tournament.

Gracie Williams put Haudenosaunee on the board finishing top corner on a feed from Jock to make it 1-0 Nationals less than five seconds into the game. Korea responded on a spin move by Phoebe Kim to tie the game at 1-1. Captain Kimaura Schindler scored her first goal of the tournament on a free position shot to make it 2-1. Korea’s Lauren Park scored two straight to give Korea their first lead of the game at 3-2. But, Haudenosaunee would respond with three straight goals of their own to close out the quarter. Avery Doran got on the board as she cut wide open to the middle and buried a feed from Paisley Cook to tie the game. Mia Mitchell followed on a free position opportunity as she regathered the ball in the slot and sniped a side arm to make it 4-3 Haudenosaunee. Addison Jimerson joined the fun with less than a minute to go in the quarter as she took a pass from Williams and faked low to finish high and give Haudenosaunee the 5-3 lead heading to the second quarter.

Korea hung tough as Phoebe Kim scored two straight goals to start the second quarter to tie the game at 5-5. But, Haudenosaunee answered as Paisley Cook scored two straight. The first from the left side on a feed from Chloe Luther and then Cook took a pass from Doran and dodged the defender on the left side to score and make it 7-5 Haudenosaunee. Gracie Williams bounced home her second goal of the day slicing through the middle of the defense. And then Addison Jimerson added her second of the day on a beautiful give and go with Chloe Luther to stretch the lead to 9-5. Korea would add another goal by Park to cut the lead to 9-6 headed to halftime.

The third quarter was all Haudenosaunee as Wynter Jock buried one top shelf on a beautiful wrap around from behind the net to get things started. Jock then found a cutting Mia Mitchell for her second of the day to make it 11-6 halfway through the third quarter. Korea’s Park scored her fourth goal of the day as she sprinted open from the bench to cut the lead to 11-7. Haudenosaunee countered with another run to regain control as Doran cut to the net and scored on a dish by Cook to make it 12-7. Mitchell completed the hat trick as she dodged to the front of the net and Doran added her hat trick as she dodged left of the defender and finished to give Haudenosaunee a 14-7 lead entering the final quarter.

Chloe Luther scored her first goal of the game less than one minute into the fourth as she drove through the left side of the crease to extend the lead. Another goal from Korea’s Park cut the lead to 15-8, before Haudenosaunee finished strong with contributions from their bench. Ava Tallchief burst down the right side with the fake and finish for her first goal of the tournament. Azalea Lazore also added her first goal to make it 17-7 with five minutes left in the game. Kendyl Pollack added two straight goals to close the game and give Haudenosaunee the 19-7 victory.

Next up: Haudenosaunee faces Canada at 8 p.m. Hong Kong Time (8 a.m. Eastern Standard Time) on Saturday, August 17th at Shek Kip Mei Park. Follow @decolonizesports on Facebook and Instagram (and sometimes Twitter) for all of your in-depth coverage of the Haudenosaunee Women at the 2024 World Lacrosse U20 Women’s World Championship.