Belarus upsets Canada at CCII

June 21, 2009

Team Belarus upset the Canadian women’s national field hockey team 3-1 Sunday afternoon on the opening day of the FIH Champions Challenge II in Kazan, Russia.  Katie Rushton of Victoria, British Columbia scored the lone goal for Canada in the 42nd minute.

Belarus opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game with Iryna Kazachok hitting the target from open play to shock their North American opponents.  Volha Shyntar scored twice for the winning side in the 19th and 50th minute.

Canadian goaltender Azelia Liu, of Scarborough, Ontario, played well making 5 saves on Belarus’ six penalty corners in the first half.

The game was Vancouver, British Columbia native Poonam Sandhu’s first international cap.

Canada will next play India on Monday morning.