USA Field Hockey News

Netherlands, Argentina Gain First Day Field Hockey Wins at AstroTurf March on Madrid

Sarah Dawson looks for space against two Dutch defenders in the USA's opening game of the AstroTurf March on Madrid

COLLEGE PARK, Md.  – World No. 1 ranked The Netherlands survived a hard-fought scrap with the United States  and No. 2 Argentina outlasted Australia in the first day of action at the AstroTurf March on Madrid field hockey tournament.

The tournament serves as a tune-up for the teams en route to the World Cup, Sept. 27-Oct 8 in Madrid, Spain.

The tournament continues on Friday with Argentina taking on The Netherlands and the USA meeting Australia.

Netherlands 2, United States 1

Bolstered by a crowd of 1,600 fans at the Univ. of Maryland, the USA saw its upset bid against the world’s top-rated team fall short when Dutch forward Fatima Moriera de Melo lofted a soft flick over U.S. goalkeeper Amy Tran to give the Netherlands a 2-1 win.

 “We’re disappointed with the result,” said USA coach Lee Bodimeade. “But we have a fantastic opportunity to play the top three teams in the world and that’s where we aspire to be. Certainly we’ve come here to compete and develop for the World Cup, but we’ll take a lot of positives from today’s game.”

The scrappy USA held the top rated-Dutch scoreless in the first half on the strength of three spectacular saves by Tran. Already named the Goalkeeper of the Tournament in her last two major international tournaments, Tran and the USA defense turned away a swarming Dutch attack to go in to halftime tied 0-0.

The USA took the lead in the second half when Tiffany Snow tipped in a ball in front of the Dutch goal and fueled the crowd’s hope for an upset over the top-ranked team.

But the Dutch rallied 10 minutes later when Naomi Vam As slammed a shot into the corner of the goal to tie the game at 1-1.

The score remained deadlocked until Moriera de Melo intercepted a pass and lifted the ball and her team to victory with five minutes remaining in the match.

Argentina 2, Australia 1

Luciana Aymar scored on a second half penalty corner to give No. 2 ranked Argentina a 2-1 win over No. 4 Australia in the opening game

Aymar’s goal came off one of six second-half penalty corner opportunities as the reigning FIH Player of the Year flicked the ball past Australian keeper Rachel Lynch in the 58^th minute.

Argentina jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on Alejandra Gulla’s field goal in the 12^th minute. The lead was short-lived however as Australia’s Madonna Blythe connected on a penalty corner five minutes later to send the game into halftime tied 1-1.

Following Aymar’s goal, Argentina had five straight penalty corner opportunities to clinch the victory, but were turned away each time by Lynch and the Australia defense.

Australia had a final penalty corner opportunity as time expired but the ball was cleared out of the circle.

The loss dampened the celebration for Australia’s Nikki Hudson who was playing in her 250^th career international match.

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