SPIRITED ENGLAND FALL TO DEFENDING CHAMPS
ENGLAND's women suffered heartache with defeat
at the hands of defending champions United States in their
opening match of the World Championship here tonight (Thursday).
But despite a 13-5 loss at the Glenn Warner Soccer Stadium,
England head coach Lois Richardson took heart from a battling
performance, with the national side having fought back from
7-0 behind to still be in the contest at 9-3 down at half-time.
Attacker Katy Bennett and midfielder Felicity Hermsen led
England's charge with two goals each, while the impressive
Lucy Lynch scored a crowd-pleasing backhand shovle shot.
However, hat-tricks from midfielder Kelly Hiller and Quinn
Carney, with other goals from Lauren Aumiller (2), Crista
Samaras (2), Danielle Gallagher (2) and Kate Kaiser saw the
hosts triumph in their bid to win their sixth world crown.
"We were very nervous in the first half and there was
only one team in it really, but we played much better in the
second half," said Richardson.
"I think experience played it's part. We have got a young
side with only three girls with World Cup experience, but
we had a chat at half-time and then we came out and the US
didn't score for 21 minutes.
"It would have been lovely to have won but I'd rather
get this defeat out of our system and hopefully beat them
at the second attempt if we get to play them in the later
stages of the competition.
"Although we got beat it was an encouraging performance
and we can take heart from the way we played. Our defence
was very strong in the second half and we scored some nice
goals."
England started slowly while the US, in front of a sell-out
crowd, came out of the blocks flying.
Hiller scored two early goals before Ailsa Stott had England's
first chance on goal in the 7th minute. She would have scored
if it had not been for a point-blank save from the US keeper
Christine Lindsey.
Aumiller, Gallagher (2), Hiller again, and veteran Samaras
all scored, but England hit back through Bennett in the 23rd
minute.
Hermsen scored a minute later after some clever play, but
Carney increased the lead four minutes before half-time.
Lynch, however, scored with a brilliant piece of trickery
which baffled the US defence and keeper, finding the top left-hand
corner with a rasping shot.
But with 34 seconds left of the half, and England penalised
for a foul, Aumiller scored to make it 9-3 to the home side.
England started better in the second-half and Bennett came
close to scoring her second goal of the game, but fired over
in the 35th minute,
Carney then scored for the US, but not until nine minutes
were left in the match.
England, though, would not lie down and Hermsen broke the
second-half deadlock with a superb shot which beat Lindsey
all ends up and then Bennett hit the back of the net,
However, the US finished strongly and Carney, Kaiser and Samaras
all netted to make victory assured.
Stott came close to scoring her debut goal at this year's
tournament with three minutes remaining, but Lindsey denied
her for a second time.
"There's areas we can improve on, in midfield and attack,
but I was pleased with the way we performed and made the US
panic for a while," added Richardson.
"They gave the ball away a lot, which is what we did
in the first half. We've got a tough game against Australia
on Saturday, so we'll go away from here, train and get ready
for the match.
"The Australians have a good team but I'm confident if
we play to our ability we can beat them."
England attacker Stott enjoyed her first World Cup match and
is looking forward to herself and the rest of the team raising
their games for the remainder of the tournament.
"It was good fun, but we were very nervous, especially
in the first half," revealed Stott. "The US played
really well, but we gave a credible performance in the second
half."
Results
WOMEN, Lacrosse World Championship (Annapolis, Maryland):
England 5 United States 13 (Half scores 3-9, 2-4); Scotland
19 Germany 3 (12-2, 7-1); Japan 12 Czech Republic 1 (3-1,
9-0); Wales 5 Canada 12 (3-4, 2-8).
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