USA Field Hockey News

	Tracey Larson (l) gets a hug from Angie Loy after putitng the USA up 2-0 against Russia

USA Women Crush Russia to Stay Alive in Olympic Qualifying Tourney

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – The USA field hockey women’s national team kept its Olympic hopes alive with a 6-0 win over Russia at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

With the win, the USA improves to 1-1-1 at the 10-team tournament and remained in the hunt for one of the four remaining Olympic berths awarded at the event. Spain became the first team from the tourney to earn a spot in Athens as it advanced to the tournament semifinals with a 1-0 win over Japan. The USA will meet Spain tomorrow in the final game of pool play.

“We’re alive,” said USA coach Beth Anders following the victory that ensured the USA at least a shot  at one of the remaining Olympic spots. “We had a really good first half, and an okay second half, but we’ll take it. We’ve got some preparation to do tonight and then see what we can do with Spain.”

Five different USA players scored goals in the game as the USA matched the tournament high for goals scored during the tournament. Tracey Fuchs (Centereach, N.Y.) added a pair of penalty corner scores to raise her tournament goal total to four.

“We came out strong and scored some early goals, which was really nice,” said Fuchs. “We would have liked to get a few more in the second half, but to get six goals is always good.”

Fuchs put the USA on top in the second minute of the game with a penalty corner and added her second goal in the final minutes of the half. In between, Tracey Larson (Morrisville, Pa.) tapped in a shot on the goal line and Kristen McCann (Allentown, Pa.) backhanded a shot into the Russian net at the 24-minute mark as the USA built a  4-0 halftime lead.

The USA continued to dominate the game in the second half, but was unable to add to the score until the 66^th minute when Kate Barber (West Chester, Pa.) smashed a shot past Russian keeper Oxana Serezhkina. Keli Smith (Selinsgrove, Pa.) knocked in a penalty corner goal in the final minute to give the USA its final margin of victory.

The six goals helped the USA improve its overall goal differential from –2 to +4 in the vital statistic used to determine pool standings in the event teams are tied at the end of pool play. Entering the final games of pool competition, the U.S. could place anywhere from second to fourth in the pool.

A second place pool finish would send the USA to the tournament semifinals and a place in Athens, while a third or fourth place pool finish would put the team in a battle for the fifth and final Olympic qualifying spot.

“The Spanish play a tough style of hockey and we just have to regroup and come out really, really strong tomorrow,” said Fuchs in anticipation of the pool finale. “Hopefully, we’ll get some rest,   come out and play really hard and good things will happen.”

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USA 6, Russia 0
USA: Tracey Fuchs (PC, 2:00)
USA: Tracey Larson (FG, 15:00)
USA: Kristen McCann (FG, 24:00)
USA: Tracey Fuchs (PC, 31:00)
USA: Kate Barber (FG, 66:00)
USA: Keli Smith (PC, 69:00)

USA Starters: Angie Loy, Kristen McCann, Peggy Storrar (GK), Tara Jelley, Tracey Larson, Tracey Fuchs, Katie Beach, Keli Smith, Carrie Lingo, Kate Barber, Dina Rizzo

Reserves: April Fronzoni, Mimi Smith, Meredith Keller, Kristi Gannon

Russia Starters: Anna Radomskaya (GK), Galina Timshina, Elena Kazakova, Tatiana Lastochkina, Elena Apelganets, Tatiana Vasyukova, Svetlana Grigoreva, Ekaterina Rastorgoueva, Nadezda Chergurdaeva, Marina Chergurdaeva, Natalia Zaitchenko

Reserves: Natalia Vershinina, Alexandra Pershina, Natalia Gorbachhkova, Olga Shentsova, Oxana Serezhkina (GK)