Without being in team meetings, it’s hard to know whether the coaching staff of the U.S. women’s Olympic field hockey team had the near-term goal or the long-term goal in mind before meeting Great Britain in the final round of Pool B play at Olympic Green Stadium.
The near-term goal would have been to score a plethora of goals to win a possible berth in the medal round through a goal-differential tiebreaker; the long-term would have seen the Americans get just enough goals to get the win on the day, a guaranteed top-six finish in the Olympics, a 2009 Champions’ Trophy berth, and a rankings-points boost (the lowest-ranked team in that tournament is guaranteed 180 points) that could guarantee the Pan American Hockey Federation a second berth in FIH tournaments through the next Olympic qualification cycle if the same criteria is used for London 2012.
But after a goalless draw against Great Britain, the United States did neither. The U.S. team, despite losing only one game in pool play, will face Spain on Tuesday night at 11 p.m. Eastern Time (game live on NBCOlympics.com) for seventh place and its bounty of 550 points in world rankings; the losing team will score 500.
The United States, in outshooting Great Britain 10-5, had 10 penalty corners to the Lions’ two. But Beth Storry, the Britons’ goalkeeper, was outstanding behind her team’s penalty corner defense. Angie Loy had the best chance for the Applebees on a high-low play in the 55th minute, but her deflection hit the far post. Loy, the Americans’ leading goal-scorer in the tournament, had other corner chances in the seventh and the 20th, but could not find the goal cage.
Great Britain manufactured most of its chances in the last 12 minutes. One field scenario found a pair of Lions on the goal cage against one U.S. defender, but right wing Rachel Walker was called for advancing. U.S. goalie Amy Tran made a pair of magnificent saves in the final four minutes to keep the match level.
United States 0-0 — 0
Great Britain 0-0-0
Shots– USA: 10; GBR: 5.
Saves– USA: Tran 5; GBR: Storry 10
