Hualien City striker Wu Shih-ping on Saturday headed in the only goal in her team’s game against Taichung Blue Whale, which allowed them to capture the Taiwan Mulan League Cup at Taipei Sports Stadium and gave the team a double victory this year.
Saturday’s win put Hualien City at the top of Taiwan women’s soccer, with the league cup to go along with the Mulan League title for the season that finished in September.
Thanks to their outstanding performance throughout the season, Hualien City won the league title by finishing without a loss, on 12 wins and three draws for 39 points, while Blue Whale had to settle for second place, with 33 points on 11 wins and four losses, ending their three-year hold on the top spot that began in 2017.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
On Saturday, neither side scored in the first half, but seven minutes after halftime the Blue Whale defenders left Wu unmarked, giving her to time head the ball into the net.
“The ball sailed over the goalkeeper as I dashed inside the goal area, and it dropped in front of me, so I could not pass up the opportunity,” Wu said.
Three minutes later, Blue Whale thought they had equalized, when a dipping shot rebounded off Hualien goalkeeper Hong Lin’s hands and Taichung forward Lai Li-chin tapped it into the net.
Although Blue Whale celebrated the equalizer, the referee had already blown the whistle, disallowing the goal, saying that Hong had possession and the opposition had fouled by following up.
Michelle Pao did not start at the beginning of the match, as Blue Whale manager Lu Kuei-hua wanted to keep her fresh for the second half.
However, while Pao and Lai continued to push into the goal area during the rest of the game, their shots were repeatedly denied by Hong and Hualien’s defenders.
“We believed it would be a tough match ... and would likely be a stalemate late into the proceedings, even going into extra-time. So we wanted to keep Pao at her peak physical condition late into the game,” Lu said. “However, the match did not go our way. Our players did their best, but we just could not score an equalizer.”
It was inevitable that Wu scored the vital goal, as throughout the season she scored 19 goals, the second-most of the season. She was beaten only by Pao, who won the Golden Boot with 21 goals.
In the men’s Taiwan Football Premier League yesterday, Taiwan Steel remained on top of the table by trouncing National Taiwan University of Sport 5-0.
Hang Yuan FC and Tatung FC drew 1-1, while Red Lions FC defeated Ming Chuan University 3-0.
This story has been corrected since it was first published to show that Hualien City won the Taiwan Mulan League Cup on Saturday, not the league title, which they had won earlier.
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