USA hammers Belgium in first test of four-match series: 5-1 – Hockey Update
Paige Selenski scored thrice and had an assist, as the Women’s hockey squad of United States notched a convincing 5-1 win over Belgium in the maiden test of the four-match series in Antwerp, Belgium on August 11.
Head Coach of the National Women’s hockey team namely Lee Bodimeade while briefing the media after the opening fixture was pleased over the win. He was of the opinion that they delivered best performances to outplay the talented squad of Belgium. He stated,
“It is good to get a win on the tour. Belgium is a quality opponent and we had to play well today to beat them. Selenski's performance helped in the endeavour, but it was in combination with some very good play from the rest of the team.”
Selenski, the top scorer of the match also spoke with the journalists saying that they showed outstanding game on offence as well defence. She stated, “It was a good opening match for the entire team. We worked the ball well from the backfield up to the
strikers.”
The US Women’s hockey team lost first three games of the tour in the hands of Germany. The US team lost the games by thin margin, as they could not show impressive performances in the second halves. In order to avoid the similar condition, the US Women changed
the strategy and obtained goals in the first half of play to establish their dominance over the field.
United States and Belgium – the teams holding 13th and 19th positions in the world rankings entered onto the field in quite a cautious way. Both opened the play carefully in order to avoid mistakes in the maiden encounter.
Katie Evans and her team-mate Shannon Taylor scored one goal each in the match while Paige Selenski delivered the real game-winning performance and made the victory possible. On the other side, the resilient defence from US did not allow the Belgian women
for making a return into the match.
Evans was tough playing the game alone, but she did wonderful moves in the opening minutes of the first frame. She notched an early goal to put USA ahead onto the scorecard but the Belgian striker levelled the results in the next few minutes through a penalty
conversion. Amy Tran Swensen, one of the world’s best women goalies in the world failed to stop the ball.
After locking horns, the US Women started a fast-paced game in order to take the match into their favour. In the later time, Taylor and her team-mate Selenski scored one and three goals respectively to make the first victory possible for the US.
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