USA Field Hockey News

USA Field Hockey U21 Women Top Puerto Rico; Junior Pan Am Semifinals Up Next

San Juan, Puerto Rico — The USA Field Hockey women’s Under-21 team rolled to a 10-0 win over host Puerto Rico to conclude pool-play in Pool B at the Pan American Junior Championships.

With the win, the USA captured the top spot in Pool B and will play the second place team in Pool A in the semifinal round on Thursday. The USA’s probable opponent, Chile was in position to clinch the number two spot in Pool A with a win, draw or anything less than a 12 goal loss to Trinidad & Tobago (1-3) in Tuesday’s late game. Four-time defending tournament champion Argentina captured the top spot in Pool A and will meet Pool B’s second place team in Thursday’s first semifinal game. The tournament final is scheduled for Sunday.

The USA clinched its fifth straight shutout victory in Pool B as Katie Grant (Lehighton, Pa.) and Mia Link (Jenkintown, Pa.) scored two goals each to lead the team to the win.

Grant opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a field goal and added to the total nine minutes later with a penalty corner goal. The USA then reeled-off four goals in five minutes as Link sandwiched her two goals around a field goal by Mary Fox (St. Louis, Mo.) to give the USA a 5-0 advantage with five minutes left in the first half. Rachel Dawson (Berlin, N.J.) concluded the first half scoring with a penalty corner goal in the 33^rd minute.

The USA continued its dominance in the second half as Laree Beans (Allentown, Pa.) connected for on a field goal in the first minute of the second stanza and Lauren Crandall (Doyelstown, Pa.) collected her sixth goal of the tournament on a penalty corner three minutes later to give the USA an 8-0 lead.

Lori Hillman (Gibbsboro, N.J.) converted a penalty stroke and Katelyn Falgowski (Landenberg, Pa.) added a field goal in the 59^th minute to conclude the scoring.

U.S. goalkeeper Brianna O’Donnell (Collegeville, Pa.) collected her second shutout in the tournament for a USA defense that did not allow a goal in five pool-play games. Goalkeeper Katherine Blair (Louisville, Ky.) earned shutouts in the first three games of the tournament for the USA.

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.

USA 10, Puerto Rico 0

USA: Katie Grant (FG, 6:00)
USA: Katie Grant (PC, 15:00)
USA: Mia Link (FG, 20:00)
USA: Mary Fox (FG, 22:00)
USA: Mia Link (FG, 25:00)
USA: Rachel Dawson (PC, 33:00)
USA: Laree Beans (FG, 36:00)
USA: Lauren Crandall (PC, 41:00)
USA: Lori Hillman (PS, 57:00)
USA: Katelyn Falgowski (FG, 59:00)

USA Starters: Lori Hillman, Heather Kendell, Katie Grant, Cara-Lynn Lopresti, Brianna O’Donnell, Lauren Crandall, Rachel Dawson, Lauren Powley, Brook Miller, Heather Schnepf, Laree Beans

Subs: Jamie Whitten, Mia Link, Katelyn Falgowski, Mary Fox
Coach: Tracey Fuchs