U.S. Women Down Japan in Penalty Stokes to Earn 9^th Place Finish at World Cup

PERTH, Australia – The U.S. women’s national field hockey team earned a 9^th place finish at the World Cup, as goalkeeper Peggy Storrar saved the day in a penalty stroke victory over Japan.

After an uncharacteristic slow start in the tournament, Storrar dazzled the fans and puzzled Japan as she collected 22 saves to keep the game scoreless through regulation play and 15 minutes of extra time. Storrar than saved the first two Japanese stroke attempts as the USA’s Carla Tagliente, Mimi Smith, Jenny Everett and Tracey Fuchs converted their opportunities to earn the victory.

“She was amazing. She was awesome,” said U.S. coach Tracey Belbin. “I kept saying ‘how did she save that!’ She was out of her mind. It was fantastic. It was good to see the old Peggy back.”

Storrar anchored a USA defense that was kept busy through much of the day as Japan dominated possession of the ball with 38 shots and 12 penalty corners. The U.S. was held to two penalty corners and saw its best opportunities to score go wide off the stick of Kate Barber late in the second half.

 “I didn’t even hear anything today,” said Storrar, oblivious to the awe-inspired ovations from the crowd and her teammates. “All I saw was the ball and the stick that was shooting it and that was it. I tried to focus on the simple things today instead of trying to do everything, and as it turned out, it was quite a lot. I felt like I had had a pretty disappointing tournament, but ninth (place) is good.”

After concluding its second extra time match in two days, the U.S. shot second in the stroke competition and earned a lift after Storrar knocked down the first attempt from Japan’s Keiko Miura

“We had lost to Japan in strokes in a tournament earlier (2001 Korea Telecom Cup),” said Storrar on beginning the stroke competition. “I knew we were going to win today. I knew I had to make at least one save, and after the first one, it was easy.”

Following Storrar’s first save, Tagliente converted her stroke and Storrar made a smothering save on Sachimi Iwao’s shot to give the U.S. some breathing room. Japan’s Sakae Moimoto and Chie Kimura netted their chances, but U.S. remained perfect from the spot with goals by Smith, Everett and Fuchs to earn the 4-2 victory and the 9^th place finish.

The team’s showing at the World Cup elevates the USA’s international standing from 11^th to 9^th and included wins over 2000 Olympic competitors South Africa (3-0) and New Zealand (1-0).

“We played relatively well,” said Belbin on the team’s World Cup performance. “This is the start of a new-look U.S. team. We created so many more chances attacking wise and really have some more firepower up front. We scored some of the prettiest goals here. There are obviously certain things we have to work on – certain lapses in games – but we are very competitive and its great that we could place in the top nine in the world.

 
USA 0 , Japan 0
(US wins in penalty strokes, 4-2)

Japan                                     
Keiko Miura         0   
Sachimi Iwao       0
Sakae Morimoto     x
Chie Kimura         x

USA
Carla Tagliente     x
Mimi Smith           x
Jenny Everett      x
Tracey Fuchs      x

Japan Starters:  Rie Terazono, Keiko Miura, Akemi Kato, Yukari Yamamoto, Sachimi Iwao, Chie Kimura, Sakae Mormimoto, Kaori Chiba, Naoko Saito, Asuka Chiba, Rika Kmazawa

USA Starters: Peggy Storrar (Mahopac, N.Y., gk), Tracey Fuchs (Centereach, N.Y.), Katie Beach (West Lawn, Pa.), Melanie Meerschwam (Princeton, N.J.), Keli Smith (Selinsgrove, Pa.), Jill Reeve (Hoosick Falls, N.Y.), Kate Barber (West Chester, Pa.), Carla Tagliente (Corland, N.Y.), Tara Jelley (Greenfield, Mass), Carrie Lingo (Rehoboth Beach, Del.), Tracey Larson (Morrisville, Pa.), Kristen McCann (Allentown, Pa.),

Subs: Mimi Smith (Virginia Beach, Va.), Kelli Gannon (Escondido, Calif.), Kim Miller (Virginia Beach, Va.), Jenny Everett (Rutland, Vt.)

DNP:  Jill Dedman (Orange, Conn.), Antoinette Lucas (Richmond, Va.)