(Photo: Yan Huckendubler)
The Canadian women’s field hockey team put in an improved performance in a 2-0 loss in the third game of a four game series with the United States Thursday in Chula Vista, California.
After two losses in which the goal differential was a combined 13-1 in favour of the U.S., the Canadian women were determined Thursday to close the gap and put in a performance closer to the one against the States last summer in the 2015 Pan American Games semifinal, when the seventh-ranked U.S. took a close 3-0 decision from the then twentieth ranked Canadians.
Thursday’s match was Canada’s best yet, not only holding to the Americans to only two goals, but also generating a fair amount of chances of their own.
One of the better chances of the game came in the 27th minute when the Canadians earned their first penalty corner of the match. The set piece forced American keeper Jackie Briggs to make a diving save to keep Canada off the board and the game scoreless.
The score remained 0-0 into half-time and the U.S. pressured early in the second half. A string of chances, however, were turned away by good, confident tending from Kaitlyn Williams, who played the full sixty minutes in goal for Canada.
In the 44th minute, however, the U.S. were able to break through when Katie Reinprecht convert on a heavy shot to break the deadlock.
Canada had a chance to equalize shortly thereafter when the U.S. when down a player thanks to a green card to Jill Witmer, but they were unable to convert with the man advantage.
Instead, it was Reinprecht who got her second of the game and third of the series in the 51st minute to give the U.S. a two-goal lead.
The two teams will hit the field again on Friday for the fourth and final match of the series. Game time is scheduled for 12:30pm PT/3:30 PM ET at the United States Olympic Training Centre in Chula Vista, California.
