Needless to say, if Harrison could have muttered a quick prayer under her breath, it must have felt like a slow, deliberate dagger to the Aussies' hearts.
"I could probably have had a cup of tea and watched it go over the line," she said with a laugh.
"I don't think I've laughed so much and it's probably the most I have celebrated because there was so much anticipation for it to go in."
But there wasn't any sympathy forthcoming from the Vantage-sponsored defending champions for the Hockeyroos.
Australia led 1-0 from the 28th minute after a penalty corner which Gabi Nance teed up to the top of the D, Georgia Nanscawen trapped it and rookie Madeleine Ratcliffe produced that sweet, woody drum-base sound that no defending team want to hear.
"We always have a bit of a grudge match against the Aussies," Harrison said.
As it turned out, yesterday morning the Black Sticks had ventured to a health food store which both teams frequent, the Hapi Cafe Clean Kai Co-op in Napier City.
"We went there and they said, 'Hey, the Aussies had been here this morning and they said they're going to beat you', so there's a bit of banter going on there," Harrison explained.
If Wells' mood was anything to go by, the Hockeyroos were left seething.
When approached for an interview outside the changing rooms under the stadium while stretching and before climbing into the hot/cold bin, the 27-year-old Victorian keeper with more than 50 caps snapped: "You're f***ing kidding, right?"
While the sense of disappointment was understandable, it would pay for Wells to comprehend that in the high-octane cauldron of any international competition, a sense of humour can be quite therapeutic.
Here's hoping rookie Jocelyn Bartram, who started the game and alternated quarters with Wells, had come through wiser from the venomous reaction in a tournament where all teams are developing the character and fortitude of newbies.
Someone had also remarked: "Ask her [Harrison] to do it again and she wouldn't be able to in a million years."
On a serious note, Harrison said the hosts had a few set-piece plays to fine tune on their way to building towards the final.
"I don't know if it was the rest day but they came out pretty hard and we weren't prepared for that," she said. "We need to go out hard right from the start and give it heaps, really, so we can't just slack off and let them get one up on us."
It must have been a memorable game for Queensland-born Kiwi convert goalkeeper Grace O'Hanlon, 24, in her maiden international against her birth country after finding it difficult to break into the team.
Ratcliffe said it was disappointing for the Aussies to concede a "brutal or roughy goal" in an end-to-end game that no one controlled.
"I think we had the upper hand in the first half but that goal was pretty disappointing," said the 19-year-old from Warrnambool after relishing her third goal, between O'Hanlon's legs, in the tourney.
Ratcliffe said the Aussies had always adopted a mind set to increase their lead, rather than defend a slippery banana-skin situation.
"We're not going to get complacent with a 1-nil scoreline because anything could happen, yeah, so it was definitely to put another one in," she said after the second drawn affair between the sides.
Ratcliffe said it made tomorrow's game against a smarting Japan, who lost 4-1 to Team USA yesterday, a big game.
"They'll be super hungry for a win so we've got to have a real want if we want to win to beat them."
The Aussies head the table with nine points (two wins, three draws), with the Kiwis on eight (2/2), Japan on six (2/0), while Team USA are on four points (1/1).
The US can't win the tournament but can assume the mantle of spoilers in tomorrow's final round of matches before Sunday's playoffs.
2017 DETAILS
Remaining matches at the Unison Stadium, Hastings:
Tomorrow, 3pm: Australia v Japan.
5pm: New Zealand v USA.
Sunday, 3pm: 3rd v 4th playoff.
5.15pm: 1st v 2nd playoff.
RESULTS
Rd 1: Australia 1 Team USA 1, Japan 2 New Zealand 1.
Rd 2: Japan 2 Team USA 1, Australia 1 New Zealand 1.
Rd 3: Australia 2 Japan 1, New Zealand 3 Team USA 2.
Rd 4: Australia 3 Team USA 1, New Zealand 1 Japan 0.
