Canadian women lose close match to India
The Canadian women’s field hockey team lost their opening match of the 2014 Commonwealth games competition after an animated and close match against India (4-2).
The Indian team is ranked 13th in the world, nine spots ahead of Canada, and it showed in the opening minutes. For many young Canadian players, it was their first exposure to playing in a major competition, and they might have been impressed by the decorum, pre-game introduction on the big screen, etc… However, they quickly shook their early nerves, and play became balanced and mostly in midfield. The first goal opportunities were even for Canada, first on a penalty-corner then for Kate Gillis.
Kate Williams in the Canadian goal only saw her first action after 20 minutes of play, when India managed to score from a mad scramble in front of goal after a penalty-corner. Canada came back level three minutes later with a long ball that found Brienne Stairs behind the defense; she outran the defenders and coolly slotted the ball under the rushing goalkeeper with a clinical reverse shot.
India scored a second penalty-corner on a penalty-corner deflection that left no chance to the Canadian defense, but Canada was very much on par with their opponent going into the break.
As in first period, the Canadian defence was pushed on its heels at the beginning of second period and had trouble breaking away from their defensive zone. India took advantage of their domination to score a third goal, again on penalty-corner, building a two-goal cushion.
Canada reacted well and they were rewarded by a penalty-corner goal, Krissy Wishart deflecting in front of the Indian goal-keeper the original shot by Karli Johansen. They kept pushing but could not break through the stacked Indian defence.
Jaspreet Kaur scored another penalty-corner for India, shaving Kaitlyn Williams’ left post with a powerful flick that was too high for the post player and too far for the diving goal-keeper. The match was animated in the final stages, with Canada pushing desperately to reduce the gap, but no more goal was scored and India walked away with the 4-2 win.
(pictures to follow later tonight)
