USA Field Hockey News

Argentina and The Netherlands earn spot in final; USA to meet Australia in 3^rd/4^th place game at AstroTurf March on Madrid Tournament

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.  – The world’s top two field hockey teams will meet in the championship game as No. 1 Netherlands and No. 2 Argentina earned spots in Sunday’s final while the host USA will meet No. 4 Australia in the 3^rd/4^th place game at the AstroTurf March on Madrid.

Argentina (3-1-2, 11 points) earned its spot in the final as the top seed with a 1-1 draw against Australia, while The Netherlands (3-2-1, 10 points) defeated the USA to earn the second spot in the championship game.

The tournament serves as a prelude to the Samsung Women’s World Cup, Sept. 27-Oct. 8 in Madrid, Spain.

Netherlands 3, USA  0

The Netherlands scored the only goal they would need in the 19^th minute as the world’s top team earned its spot in the championship final with a 3-0 win over the USA.

Needing a win to advance to the championship game, the Netherlands finally scored on their fifth penalty corner attempt of the first half when Maartje Paumen sent a drag flick just under the crossbar and just over USA goalkeeper Barbara Weinberg to give the Dutch a 1-0 halftime lead.

Weinberg kept her team in the game with five first half saves.

“They came to play,” said  USA coach Lee Bodimeade on the Dutch effort in the game. “I was pleased the way we fought hard and absorbed a lot of their pressure. The good thing is that after a couple of bad starts, we have our World Cup program back on track and we can move on from here.”

The Netherlands withstood a rejuvenated USA attack in the second half and added a pair of late goals by Sylvia Karres in the 56^th minute and Naomi Van As in the 64^th minute to secure the victory.

 “I thought we generated enough opportunities in the second half to equalize or even get ahead,” said Bodimeade. “The harsh reality is that when you make mistakes against the top side in the world, you get punished for it.”

Argentina 1, Australia 1

Argentina clinched a spot in the AstroTurf March on Madrid final as a result of  1-1 draw with Australia.

Australia jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Suzie Faulkner tipped in a loose ball in front of the Argentina cage in the 15^th minute.

Australia continued to dominate the possession throughout the first half until Argentina earned its first penalty corner of the game in the 34^th minute. Argentina’s Ayelen Stepnik deflected in Mercedes Margolot’s initial hit to send the game into halftime tied at 1-1.

Australia continued to press in the second half, but was unable to connect on the goal needed to advance to the championship final.

With the win, Argentina moves to 3-1-2 to finish as the top team entering the classification round.

Australia completed an impressive turnaround in the second half of the double round-robin tournament, going 2-0-1 after starting the tournament winless at 0-2-1.

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