US trounce Chile by 4-3: Hockey Recap
The American Under-19 national women hockey team defeated Chile in the third of the four Tests that was played on April 23, at the Prince of Wales Country Club (PWCC) in Santiago, Chile.
In the opening minutes of the match, there were goal executions from both the sides. However, Chile had surprisingly managed to inaugurate the score in the opening minute of the first half.
Within no time the Chilean were back into action and secured a penalty-corner award, but to no avail.
The US juniors were found struggling for the ball possession, when a Chilean player made a miss-hit towards his team-mate, standing out of the ball reach. This golden chance was availed by the American Nikki Parsley, who intercepted the shot and threw it
towards her team-mate, Allison Evans, standing at the mid-field.
The US forwards kept passing the ball when it finally reached to Maxine Fluharty who deflected the ball into the goal, locking scores at 1-1.
The Chilean counter-parts acted upon this score and attempted several penalty-corners, but they could not capitalise on any of them. US stood firm in defence, allowing no chances for Chile to win a lead.
Later in the first half, US gave a wake-up call to their opponent, when Parsley wonderfully scored the team’s second goal of the match, taking lead over Chile at 2-1. The first half ended with the scores steady at 2-1.
In the second half, the Chilean team played off better than the last period and surprisingly scored two goals one after the other within two minutes.
The American’s fought back and tried to get the ball. Until the 48th minute, US’ pair Fluharty and Parsley coordinated in passes and finally Parsley capitalised a goal, setting the scores at 3-3.
With fourteen minutes left on the clock, both the teams had a dead heat fight at the field when US was awarded a penalty-corner that was beautifully shot by Fluharty, leading the team at 4-3.
The last three minutes had a heated atmosphere in the field with the Chilean crowd full of rage and emotion when the host team tried for an equaliser. However, US kept control of the game in hand, closing the second half with a win at 4-3 over Chile.
US junior women team’s, Head Coach, Carla Tagliente commented, "I am really proud of how the team fought hard from 3-2 down, and particularly pleased with the finishing and overall productivity in the circle."
As for the Chilean team, the defensive wing will be put to practice by rehearsing the back-field under situations with more pressure so as to improve the circle defence for the final match of the series.
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