Japan's Makoto Ito wired a high shot over the shoulder of Alice Philbert with only 3:30 remaining in regulation to break a 1-1 tie en route to a 3-2 win over France this afternoon.

This was Japan’s first game of these Olympics. The French lost yesterday to host Italy, 4-1, and now sit in last place of Group B with no points.

This was the first ever Olympic meeting between the two teams on the women’s side. In World Women’s Championship play, they have met only once, a 3-0 Japan win in 2019.

The third period was a tense, 1-1 game, but with overtime looming Ito took a kick pass from Remi Koyama along the boards and skated to the faceoff dot before snapping a high shot past Alice Philbert. Suzuka Maeda added an empty netter.

In the dying seconds with Philbert on the bench and France on their first power play of the game, Gabrielle de Serres got the French to within a goal but only 13.3 seconds remaining. They couldn't rally further.

"This was only our first game, but I'm really happy with how we played," said Rui Ukita, appearing in her fourth Olympics. "We had good speed and got off to a good start. We had lots of shots and scoring chances. Their goalie played well, but we never got frustrated. We didn't think about going into overtime. We just wanted to keep moving and play hard, and we felt we could win the game, no matter what."

"We have to be patient," said French forward Sehana Galbrun. "We scored two important goals. It's unfortunate Japan scored one more than us. Our goaltender did a great job. We followed our game plan, so we can be satisfied with how we played, even though it's obviously frustrating to lose like that. Everything is still possible, though."

The opening period was without a goal but not without excitement, thanks in part to a back-and-forth game and in part because of a large and vocal contingent of Japan fans. The Japanese were faster and more skilled with the puck, but France played a solid game in their own end and didn’t permit many top-quality scoring chances. 

Indeed, the best pure opportunity belonged to France. Julia Mesplede fired a low shot from the slot that was nicely stopped by the left pad of Miyuu Masuhara, who was the third goalie at the 2022 Games and was making her Olympics debut.

The second period belonged to Japan—and Philbert, who was sensational. Time and again she foiled great opportunities from the Japanese, keeping the game without a goal for most of the period. 

Philbert foiled Akane Shiga early on from right in front, and Rio Noro had a juicy rebound that the goalie kicked out. Yameka Wajima had a clear-cut breakaway, but Philbert got the right pad down to make another great save. And when Suzuka Maeda cut to the middle to create space to get a great look at the goal, Philbert was again there.

Japan finally opened the scoring on a smart play by veteran Ukita. She was about to come onto the ice, but the puck was outside the France line. She waited for teammate Akane Shiga to skate over the line with the puck and then stepped on the ice to receive a drop pass. Ukita then fired a laser over the shoulder of Philbert at 18:34 to give Japan a well-earned 1-0 lead.

France, however, struck back with a less elegant but equally legitimate goal. Manon le Scodan brought the puck over the line and got past defender Kanami Seki. Le Scodan lost control of the puck, but big captain Lore Baudrit took a swipe at it. It bounced off Ayaka Hitosato in the crease and rolled over the goal line with only 17.7 seconds left in the period, making it a 1-1 game.

The third was more cautious, but Philbert continued to be the busier of the goalies. She faced 38 shots to 25 for Masuhara, but it was Ito who led Japan to victory with her late snipe.