BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Rising sophomore Mollie Williams (Sutherland Shire, Australia/Meriden) of Indiana University shot zero-for-one with a steal in 28:40 of action as Australia rallied back from a 4-0 first quarter deficit to shock France, 6-5, at the Taipei Songshan Sports Center in Taipei City, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) and reach the Fifth Place of the 29th Summer Universiade/University Games.
The victory places Australia into a 4:30 p.m. local time clash with Canada on Tuesday, August 29, for Fifth Place in the 12-team tournament. It will mark a showdown between three Hoosiers’ players as Canada is led by the duo of former Indiana standout Shae Fournier (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Grant Park) along with Williams’ current collegiate teammate Kelly Matthews (Sr., Roxboro, Quebec, Canada/St. Thomas). Canada earned its spot in the Fifth Place game by taking down Italy, 16-13.
In a rematch of an 8-6 loss to France on Thursday, August 24, in which Williams shot two-for-four and netted two steals in 24:52 of action, Australia needed to overcome a 4-1 halftime deficit to oppress the French with a 5-1 second half surge for the win.
Trailing 4-0 after the first quarter, Australia got on the board with 5:07 left in the first half when Tori Morrissey stroked in a shot to pull the Aussies within 4-1 by halftime.
The comeback continued in the opening moments of the third quarter as Morrissey curved in chances with 7:07 and 5:32 on the clock to pull Australia within 4-3. France reinflated the spread between the teams to a pair at 5-3 prior to the end of the third quarter, but back-to-back tallies by Pascalle Casey (6:50) and Morrissey (5:44) in the first 2:30 of the fourth quarter tied the game at 6-5.
Neither team scored again until Morrissey punched in the go-ahead score for Australia with 1:45 left on the clock for the 6-5 final score. Morrissey, who finished with a game-high five goals, provided the Aussies their only lead of the game with her final marker of the contest.
Williams’ steal against France raises her tournament totals to eight goals, an assist, five steals and two field blocks as she previously tallied a steal in 20:10 of action during a 17-3 loss to the United States on Tuesday, August 22, after registering four goals, an assist, a steal and a field block in a 10-3 defeat of Greece on Saturday, August 19, during Australia’s opening game of the tournament. In addition, she appeared in 7:59 of an 8-6 loss against Italy on Sunday, August 20, prior to departing with three fouls. After squaring off with France for the first time on August 24, Williams shot one-for-three in 15:26 of action as Australia dominated Argentina, 22-1, on Friday, August 25, to earn a spot in the quarterfinals against the Russian Federation. In the quarterfinals on Saturday, August 26, she shot one-for-three with a field block in 22:11 of action as Australia suffered a 13-6 loss to Russia to set-up the Aussies’ return engagement with France to make the Fifth Place game.
