Japan reached the women's Olympic ice hockey quarterfinals for the first time Sunday despite suffering a 2-1 penalty-shot shootout defeat to China at the Beijing Games.
After beating Sweden 3-1 on Thursday and Denmark 6-2 on Saturday, Japan needed only a point to guarantee a top-three finish in Group B and a berth in the last eight.
A final-period goalkeeping error allowed China to even the game at 1-1 after regular time, but the result was enough to guarantee Japan a place in the quarterfinals.
"We expected a tight game. They came hard and it was a tough battle," said Japan head coach Yuji Iizuka. "We just had to bury our chances and they buried their small chance. We just could not finish."
Japan had to contend with a physical Chinese team made up of a majority of players born in the United States or Canada.
U.S.-born Li Beika finally took the punishment too far and was handed a two-minute penalty for an illegal hit with less than four minutes to go in the first period.
With time ticking down on the power play, Japan's Akane Hosoyamada slapped a superb 19th-minute shot from distance as Chiho Osawa ran interference and impeded keeper Zhou Jiaying's line of sight.
Hikaru Yamashita then had a close-range shot blocked two minutes into the second period as Japan picked up where it left off, while Rui Ukita, who has scored in Japan's two wins so far, missed the target after Japan weathered a spell of Chinese dominance.
Ukita made amends with a vital defensive intervention with four minutes to go in the period, diverting a Chinese pass in a three-on-two situation to keep China off the Wukesong Sports Centre scoreboard.
But Nana Fujimoto's error saw China tie the game two minutes into the final period, the goalkeeper pushing a deflected, bouncing puck into Hu Baozhen's path with the net wide open.
Japan, fatigued after playing against Denmark just 24 hours earlier, endured a flurry of Chinese attacks but Haruna Yoneyama still mustered a late shot that was denied to see the game go into overtime.
Japan had a chance to take the win with a minute left in overtime but Shiori Koike's one-on-one shot was saved by Zhou and the game went to a shootout, which Japan lost 1-0.
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