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USA Field Hockey News USA Field Hockey U21 Women Shock England, 4-2, in Junior World Cup Opener
Santiago - Rachel Dawson (Berlin, N.J.) scored two goals to lead the USA Field Hockey Under-21 team to a surprising 4-2 win over England in the opening game of the BDO Women's Junior World Cup.
Entering the game with just two days
of preparation as a team, the young
USA squad wasn't sure what to expect
when the team finally arrived in
Santiago in an early-season
departure from their respective high
school and college teams. "I don't know if we really knew what to anticipate," said Dawson on the team's opening game win. "The coaches prepared us very well but having never seen an England or some of these other teams play, we didn't know what to expect. "But after we were down a goal at the beginning we just thought, 'Hey, we can play with them, Let's do this.'" Entering the tournament as the No. 9 seed, the USA fell behind midway through the first half when England's Harriett Cunningham connected on a penalty corner in the 15th minute. The USA answered eight minutes later as Lauren Crandall (Doyelstown, Pa.) knifed her way into the England circle and blasted a shot past England keeper Emily Cotterill to tie the game at 1-1. Dawson put the USA up for good two minutes before halftime when she calmly settled a bouncing ball on a penalty corner attempt and smashed it against the boards for a 2-1 halftime advantage. The USA struck again midway through the second half when Katie O'Donnell (Blue Bell, Pa.) netted a field goal for a 3-1 lead. England's Hayley Brown pulled her team to within 3-2 with a field goal past U.S. keeper Katherine Blair (Louisville, Ky.) with seven minutes remaining in the game, but Dawson iced the game in the final minute with her second penalty corner goal of the match. "It's a great start. We had a real team effort," said U.S. coach Tracey Fuchs. "We really came together as a team and now we've got four goals and three points and that's really going to help us down the line." The USA continues play in Pool A on Thursday against top-seeded The Netherlands. "We have one day to prepare for The Netherlands," said Fuchs. "They're a good team and we'll get a great experience. We just want to keep playing like we did today and keep growing as a team. If we can do that, you never know what can happen."
USA U21 4, England 2
USA Starters: Lori Hillman, Katie
O'Donnell, Katie Grant, Mia Link,
Katelyn Falgowski, Amy Stopford,
Lauren Crandall, Rachel Dawson,
Lauren Powley, Heather Schnepf,
Katherine Blair (GK) Coach: Karen Brown
Cards: USA: O'Donnell (G, 52:00)
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