New England beat California, 4-0 to clinch 5th place in National Women Championship: Hockey Recap
In the fifth place play-off game of the National Women Championship, New England powered a commanding 4-0 win over California that took place at the American University in Washington DC, on May 27, 2011.
After the week-long tough schedule, both the New England and California teams were looking tired and slow onto the field. It seemed that the two sides were taking the game no more than a fatigue. Both squads started the game quite slowly and showed brilliant
passing in the early minutes. However, it was New England that drew the first blood in the 8th minute of the game. Lauren Pfeiffer scored off a short-corner through low-flying shot, opening the score at 1-0.
The strikers from California played very defensive game and did not carry out an attack until the 17th minute of the match. But their shots were blocked from the other side.
In a counter-offence, New England doubled the tally in the 20th minute. Emily Bastiaanse managed to get into defensive circle of California and chipped in a powerful goal, increasing the lead up to two goals, 2-0. In the remaining period of the
first half, both the teams struggled hard, as one wanted to retain the lead while other wanted to make the go for an equaliser. First half of play concluded with New England hanging on to a two-goal advantage at 2-0.
The pace of the play paced up in the second half and both squads started offensive style of play. However, many of players from California were not part of the squad, which caused them a huge set-back.
In the early minutes of the second half, California earned a couple of short corners, but they failed to capitalise the opportunities.
Despite improving the defensive line, a player from California committed a mistake and awarded a short corner to New England in the 61st minute of the match which they didn’t miss. Pam Spuehler was the player, who successfully executed the ball
into the cage and expanded the lead up to three goals, 3-0.
The players from California though cranked up their offence and carried out numerous strikes, but to no avail. Many hits went wide or blocked from the other side. In another shock for California, Lauren Crandall was awarded yellow card and sent out of the
field for ten minutes.
With the passage of every minute, the Californians continued to rev up their offence to break the curse over goals. However, they failed to do so throughout the two halves. With two minutes left onto the clock, Spuehler received a pass from Gonzalez and
hit a shot into the goal, sealing the victory at 4-0. With the triumph, the New England team secured the 5th place in the championship.
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