USA Field Hockey News

Rachel Dawson added a penalty stroke goal to help the USA to a 2-0 win over Uruguay in the Pan Am Junior championships opener.

USA Field Hockey U21 Women Open Pan Am Junior Championships with Win

San Juan, Puerto Rico — Lauren Crandall (Doyelstown, Pa.) and Rachel Dawson (Berlin, N.J.) scored first half goals to lead the USA Field Hockey Under-21 team to a 2-0 win over Uruguay on the first day of play at the Pam American Junior Championships at the Roberto Gotay Field Hockey Center.

The tournament serves as a qualifying event for the Women's Junior World Cup scheduled for Sept. 14-25 in Santiago, Chile. The top three teams from the tournament, as well as Junior World Cup host Chile, will qualify for September's event.

Playing in the mid-afternoon San Juan heat, the USA jumped out to a 1-0 lead midway through the first half when Crandall connected on a penalty corner goal in the 18th minute. Dawson added a penalty stroke goal in the 32nd lead to put the USA ahead 2-0 at halftime. The USA continued to control the action in the second half while goalkeeper Katherine Blair (Louisville, Ky.) and the USA defense recorded their first shutout of the tournament.
 

The USA is the defending silver medalist at the tournament after earning a second place finish at the 2002 event. Entering the tournament, the USA was expected to challenge for the top spot in Pool B along with Uruguay and traditional rival Canada while defending tournament champion Argentina and Chile are picked to contend in Pool A.

The USA returns to action on Thursday against Barbados.

USA 2, Uruguay 0
USA: Lauren Crandall (PC, 18:00)
USA: Rachel Dawson (PS, 32:00)

USA Starters: Katherine Blair (GK), Lauren Crandall, Rachel Dawson, Katie Grant, Lori Hillman, Mia Link, Brooke Miller, Katie O'Donnell, Lauren Powley, Heather Schnepf, Amy Stopford.
Subs: Katelyn Falgowski, Mary Fox, Cara-Lynn Lopresti, Jamie Whitten
Coach: Tracey Fuchs