Devohn Noronha-Teixeira scored the eventual winner as the Canadian men's field hockey team edged Spain 3-2 on Wednesday at the world league semifinals.
The 15th-ranked Canadians are looking for a minimum of a third-place finish at the tournament, which would earn them a spot in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
"We have worked almost nine months for this," said Noronha-Teixeira. "We knew all the games were going to be tough and we fought the whole match and we came out on top."
Gordon Johnston and James Kirkpatrick also scored for Canada while goalkeeper David Carter earned the victory.
Pau Quemada and Albert Beltran supplied the offence for 11th-ranked Spain. Quico Cortes took the loss in net.
Johnson opened the scoring for Canada and Kirkpatrick made it 2-0 by the 39th minute.
Quemada cut Canada's lead in half in the 43rd minute. Noronha-Teixeira, however, responded with the eventual winner only 60 seconds later.
"Nothing was going through my mind, just force of habit. I saw the ball, saw the goalie, and just shot," said Noronha-Texeira.
Beltran pulled Spain within a goal in the 52nd minute and eventually pulled Cortes for an extra attacker, but couldn't find the tying goal.
Canada continues with round-robin play at the 10-team qualifier on Thursday against Austria.
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.