USA Field Hockey News

USA Field Hockey Women Fall to Korea; Semifinals Up Next
Schedule & Results

Claire Laubach clears the ball against Korea. The USA will play England in the World Cup Qualifier semifinals

ROME - The USA Field Hockey national team women dropped a 3-0 decision to Korea in the final game of pool play as the team prepares for Thursday's semifinal match against England.

With both the USA and Korea having already qualified for September's World Cup, the only thing at stake in the game was the top spot in Pool B.

The loss dropped the USA (3-1-1) to the No. 2 spot in Pool B and will take on Pool A leader England in one semifinal while Korea (4-0-1) will meet Japan in the tournament's second semifinal match."

"We got a lot out of it," said head coach Lee Bodimeade on his team's performance against the world's No. 7 ranked team. "We were pretty happy with the tactics we were able to implement and to  get some data on how successful or unsuccessful we were in those areas. And of course our ability to rest some players and rotate some people in and out. I think that was paramount and very beneficial to us."

With the USA utilizing the opportunity to experiment with the lineup, Korea jumped to a 1-0 halftime when Jeong Sook Park redirected a penalty corner pass past U.S. keeper Barbara Weinberg (Louisville, Ky.) in the 21st minute of play.

Korea struck again to open the second half when Kwang Min Ko connected on a field goal two minutes into the half.

The USA created some opportunities in the second half, but the team misfired on three penalty corner chances and a blistering shot by Tiffany Snow (Escondido, Calif.) in mid-circle went wide left.

The USA was able to contain Korea's vaunted counter attack through much of the game, but Park got an open shot in the final minute to seal Korea's 3-0 victory.

"We're upbeat. I didn't thing we closed out our game against Azerbaijan (a 4-2 USA win) all that well, and we were slightly down about that," said Bodimeade. "But I thought we were more passionate and desperate about our game today and that's a very big trait. The key to our success is our grit and our ability to work hard in game. I think we went a fair way in getting that back today."
 

Korea 3, USA 0
KOR: Jeong Sook Park (PC, 21:00)
KOR: Kwang Min Ko (FG, 37:00)
KOR: Jeong Sook Park (FG, 70:00)

USA Starters: Kayla Bashore, Melissa Leonetti, Kelly Doton, Robyn Kenney, Kelsey Keeran, Rachel Dawson, April Fronzoni, Barbara Weinberg (GK), Kate Barber, Dina Rizzo
Coach: Lee Bodimeade
Reserves: Carrie Lingo, Claire Laubach, Kristi Gannon, Lauren Powley, Tiffany Snow, Sara Silvetti

Korea Starters:Ju Young Lim (GK), Jin Hee Lee, Young Soon Park, Ko Woon Oh, Jung Hee Kim, Jin Kyoung Kim, Kwang Min Ko, Jeong Sook Park, Mi Seon Kim
Coach: Sang Young Huh

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