Lausanne, Switzerland, June 22: It was a bitter sweet moment for USA's Lauren Moyer as she celebrated 100 international caps for her team but then suffered a 4-0 loss at the hands of an impressive India team. For the Eves this was a great result as it meant they finished their first season in the FIH Pro League in third place.
The second match saw China
steam-rollered by the Netherlands as the Dutch team turned on the style and
smothered any attempts by China to gather attacking momentum. This was
Netherlands at their compelling best and both their flowing build-up play and
the subsequent goals were precise and unanswerable at times.
United
States v India (women) – HC Rotterdam, Rotterdam (NED)
The first quarter was goalless although Devi Shamila had a
golden opportunity to score when she received the ball with only goalkeeper
Kelsey Bing to beat. Shamila scuffed the shot and USA breathed a sigh of
relief. For their part, USA won two penalty corners were unable to
convert.
The second quarter also remained goalless although India created a number of chances, mainly in the form of penalty corners. Three penalty corners in quick succession were all wasted as either the injection or the trap were not good enough to provide Gurjit Kaur with a clean shooting opportunity.
The breakthrough came in the 39th minute when Katariya Vandana was on the scoresheet for the second consecutive day. She got the slightest deflection to a Gurjit Kaur penalty corner strike. The shot was hard and on target and the touch from Vandana was just enough to send the ball home past Kelsey Bing.
That goal opened the door for India. There were two more goals in quick succession, firstly from Vandana and then Sonika. In both cases, the ball was played swiftly from player to player and the final pass put the striker in front of the goal.
The fourth goal came courtesy of a fabulous surging run down the Indian left hand side of the pitch by Nikki Pradhan. Her pass found Kumari Sangita, who only had the goalkeeper to beat. A good advantage by the umpire Bruce Bale, meant Sangita was able to continue the move and slot the ball home.
USA had more chances from their penalty corner routines but were unable to breach the India defence.
This match was India's final FIH Pro League match and the win seals third spot. USA has two more matches against Belgium to try to add to their one victory in the league this season.
Player of the Match, Tete Salima (IND), said: 'That was a tough game. Today was our last [FIH Pro League] match so we wanted to finish well. The second half we played much better and the result was four goals.'
China v
Netherlands (women) - HC Rotterdam, Rotterdam (NED)
The first half of the match
between China and Netherlands was all about the Netherlands as they romped to a
3-0 lead. China were far less solid in defence compared to the previous day and
they added to the pressure by repeatedly losing possession, often in their own
defensive quarter.
Netherlands also received a boost
with the return to action for Eva de Goede after a lengthy lay-off for a knee
injury.
The opening goal was scored by
Maria Verschoor, adding to her goal from the previous day. That was followed
just three minutes later when Felice Albers picked up the ball on the
Netherlands' defensive 25 and then ran the length of the pitch before firing
past Li Xinhuan who was starting in the China goal.
Frederique Matla scored the next
three goals. The first was a fierce penalty corner in the second half and then
the tall striker sent two beautifully taken penalty strokes into the goal at
the start of the third quarter.
The pressure from the Dutch was
unrelenting for the remainder of the third quarter. Only some great running at
penalty corners by Li Hong prevented a stream of goals. Just before the final
break China's woes were increased when the goalkeeper made the decision to try
to challenge Lidewij Welten outside the circle. Welten inevitably nicked the
ball, before rounding the stranded 'keeper and scoring an easy goal.
There will be some scant
consolation for Head Coach Alyson Annan and her team as China managed to keep
the score sheet clean in the final 15 minutes. Before the match the Head Coach
spoke about the fact that there were five new players in the team and this was
very much a learning experience.
Player of the Match Felice Albers
(NED) said: 'It was a great performance, we scored some nice goals. We
discussed about defending on the right and we did that well today. Eva de Goede
is a great player and we are very happy that she is back.'
The result means Netherlands
finish second in the FIH Pro League, eight points ahead of India. China remain
in eighth place with two matches left to play - against Germany.
FIH Pro League – 22 June 2022
HC
Rotterdam, Rotterdam (NED)
Result: Women’s Match #70
USA 0, India 4
Player of the Match: Tete Salima
(IND)
Umpires: Liu Xiaoying (CHN),
Bruce Bale (ENG) Laurine Delforge (BEL -video)
Result: Women’s Match #69
China 0, Netherlands 6
Player of the Match: Felice
Albers (NED)
Umpires: Laurine Delforge (BEL),
Céline Martin-Schmets (BEL), Bruce Bale (ENG-video), Céline Martin-Schmets
(BEL)
FIH press release
No comments:
Post a Comment