Indian eves lose to USA

Press Trust of India

Hastings (New Zealand), April 12: The Indian women’s hockey team let slip some early advantage to go down 2-4 against USA in its second match of the Hawke’s Bay Cup at the Hastings Sports Park, here Sunday.

The first quarter started with intense tussle between the teams and it was India who took the lead and opened their account through Anuradha Thokchom in the sixth minute. As the second half commenced, the USA girls started playing with better strategies. Four minutes into the second quarter, Jill Witmer restored parity.

In the third quarter, the game entered a hard-fought phase but both failed to convert any opportunities in goals. The dying minutes of the quarter saw some action as USA’s Kathleen Sharkey finally broke into the ‘D’ twice and scored back-to-back goals in the 42nd and 43rd minute for her team, taking the lead to 3-1. Anuradha scored the second goal for India in the 44^th minute through a penalty corner conversion.

In the last quarter of the game, both India and USA were seen attacking the flanks more frequently but it was the latter who got another success in the 47th minute from the stick of Julia Reinprecht. Indian eves, however, failed to add any more goals to the game and USA won the match 4-2.