Stickwomen fifth

The national women’s hockey team was trounced 6-0 by USA yesterday, to end the six-team second round qualifiers of the FIH World Hockey League in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in fifth spot.

With the win, USA secured its place in round three of the World League as winners with 13 points. They were joined by Chile.

Any pressure on the Americans going into the match was quickly dispelled in three minutes when Claire Laubach found the net with a precise drag flick at the opening penalty corner past T&T goalkeeper Jeneille Carrington.

USA dominated the game and after 23 minutes, Lauren Pfeiffer doubled their score.

Towards the end of the first-half they added another two goals, a penalty corner strike by Katie O’Donnell that seemed to elude the goalkeeper and three minutes later a shot towards the back post was deflected into the net by Torrie Albini for a 4-0 interval lead.

The second-half was virtually one-way traffic towards the T&T goal, but the fifth strike was delayed until 52 minutes when Jill Witmer intercepted a back pass, raced into the circle, rounded Carrington, and rolled the ball into the empty net. The Americans completed their scoring two minutes later with a straight strike at a penalty corner by Claire Laubach. 

The Chileans lost yesterday’s battle against Scotland in a 3-2 shootout, after a 2-2 draw at full-time but the one-point performance was enough for them to secure their spot in the semifinals. 

The results meant Chile and Scotland both finished level on ten points apiece, but the former took second spot on a greater number of victories, three to two while Uruguay followed up its shock 2-1 beating of Scotland with a 4-0 shut-out of Brazil for fourth spot with nine points.

Results 

USA 6 (Claire Laubach 3rd, 54th, Lauren Pfeiffer 23rd, Katie O’Donnell 31st, Torrie Albini 35th, Jill Witmer 52nd) vs T&T 0

Chile 2 (Camila Caram 30th, Agustin Vanegas 42nd) vs Scotland 1 (Vikki Bunce 48th, Nikki Kidd 67th)—Scotland won 3-2 on penalty shoot-out

Uruguay 4 (Maria Isabel Olaso 6th, 34th, Ana Karina Bisignano 25th, 29th) vs Brazil 0

Saturday results: 
T&T 3 (Avion Ashton 15th, Blair Wynne 22nd, Krizia Layne 70th) vs Brazil 1 (Patrice Boos 47th)
USA 2 (Emily Wold 40th, Melissa Gonzales 65th) vs Chile 1 (Camilla Caram 68th) 
Uruguay 2 (Janine Stanley 28th, Ana Lucia de Maria 51st) vs Scotland 1 (Linda Clement 55th)

Standings 

Teams    P    W    WD    LD    L    F    A    Pts
USA    5    4    0    1    0    18    2    13
Chile    5    3    0    1    1    16    5    10
Scotland    5    2    2    0    1    18    5    10
Uruguay    5    3    0    0    2    12    7    9
T&T    5    1    0    0    4    4    26    3
Brazil    5    0    0    0    5    2    25    0