Coach Travis Taylor upbeat despite Hong Kong’s defeat in Asia-Pacific lacrosse opener
Women’s team lose 15-10 to New Zealand in South Korea on Sunday at start of preparations for next month’s World Cup
Coach Travis Taylor remained upbeat despite Hong Kong’s women beginning their preparations for next month’s Lacrosse World Cup with a 15-10 defeat by New Zealand in their Asia-Pacific Championship opener in South Korea on Sunday.
The week-long tournament on the island of Jeju takes place less than a month before the World Cup in England, with Hong Kong looking to improve on finishing 18th out of 19 teams in 2013.
And despite the opening defeat by the world number 11 in Seogwipo, Taylor is looking forward to Hong Kong’s remaining games against world number three Australia, ninth-ranked Japan and world number 15 South Korea, as well as a combined Asia-Pacific United side.
“New Zealand are in the group of teams who we need to start competing against, and it was satisfying to know that we can play a game against them. They are at a class above us, so it was nice to see us being able to compete with them,” said Canadian Taylor, who has been in the position for two-and-a-half years.
“We had a good opportunity to play a lot of our younger players in their first game, so that helped with their nerves.
“Our captains both played outstanding and showed a lot of leadership. Our goalie played amazing and saved 13 shots, and was probably our best player of the game.”