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All the news for Monday 9 July 2018

Hockey Series Open - Wattignies 2018 (Women) - Day 3
Wattignies (FRA)

BLR v AUT (RR)     6 - 0
FRA v RUS (RR)     2 - 4

Final Pool standings

FIH Match Centre

2018 Test Matches: RSA vs CAN (W) - 1st Test
Amsterdam (NED)

RSA v CAN     1 - 2

FIH Match Centre

Blue Sticks on top form in opening Atlantic Series match

By Justin Bowie


Photo by Duncan Gray

Scotland secured a convincing 3-1 win in their opening test match against the USA, with Gavin Byers with a double and Cameron Golden both netting for Derek Forsyth’s side.

The hosts started strongly, taking the game to their opponents from the off, and were duly rewarded when Byers opened the scoring after just four minutes had been played. A defensive error from the US had gifted Scotland the opportunity, and they didn’t miss the chance to capitalise.

Nevertheless, the visitors demonstrated some resilience as they managed to strike back almost immediately. Alexander Grassi levelled the scoring after seven minutes had been played, adding a twist to what had already been an exciting and open game.

The blue sticks refused to be deterred, however, and it wouldn’t be long until they regained their goal advantage. Gordon McIntyre managed to stop the ball superbly in the penalty area, before slotting it to Golden who sent his side into a 2-1 lead.

Scotland continued to play well as the game progressed, and any attacking threat offered by the Americans seemed to fade away, Forsyth’s side dominating the match for the most part. Despite a series of penalty corners, however, the score remained 2-1 heading into half-time, with everything still up for grabs.

Golden had been dangerous going forward for Scotland throughout the whole game, and nearly made it 3-1 in the third quarter, his effort finding the woodwork after being saved by the US keeper.

The third goal soon came for the blue sticks though, Scotland finally using a penalty corner to their advantage as McQuade found Byers who deflected the ball into the net.


8 July 2018 at the National Hockey Centre, Glasgow Green. Scotland men v USA – by Duncan Gray

Little changed in the final quarter. The US struggled to create any meaningful chances, and while the home side seemed comfortable with their two-goal advantage, Golden again came close with just minutes remaining, forcing the US keeper into a terrific save.

Scotland clocked up the victory to lead the series on the opening day with the next match taking place on Monday 9 July at 18:00 at the Glasgow National Hockey Centre.

Scottish Hockey Union media release

Scotland Takes Game 1 Against USMNT of Atlantic Series



GLASGOW, Scotland - Halfway through the Europe Summer Training Tour, the U.S. Men's National Team arrived in Glasgow, Scotland on Friday ready to take on the Blue Sticks in a three-game series called the Atlantic Series. Ranked close in the FIH Hero World Rankings, No. 23 Scotland played solid defense all game long which made it difficult for No. 26 USA to find some offense momentum. Scotland capitalized on a few costly mistakes by USA, giving the Blue Sticks a 3-1 win.

At the Glasgow National Hockey Centre, USA struggled on the AstroTurf, finding it slippery which resulted in quite a few mistakes during the game. The first crucial mistake came in the fourth minute when USA's defense won the ball in their own circle and were bringing it out calmly when a change of direction resulted in a slip giving the ball to Scotland who dribbled back into the circle and Gavin Byers finished to open the scoring.

As much as it was a disappointment, USA picked up where they left off, building solid plays from the back. Three minutes later, a quick build up down the right side saw Tom Barratt (Greensboro, N.C.) overlap into the 25-yard are and take the ball down the baseline. A quick pass back found captain Ajai Dhadwal (Agoura Hills, Calif.) who managed to get another pass off to Alex Grassi (Brookeville, Md.), who subbed in a minute earlier, and back handed the ball into the goal to beat Scotland's goalkeeper and equalize the score.

The game was back and forth the remainder of the first quarter, with Scotland having a slight upper hand and earning a few penalty corners. In the 12th minute, Cameron Golden regained the lead for Scotland off a field goal. This made the halftime score 2-1 to the Blue Sticks.

The third period became a possession game with a few opportunities at either end. Late into the quarter in the 39th minute, Scotland scored off a penalty corner that was deflected in by Byers off an option play. USA pushed forward as much as possible without allowing dangerous counter attacks as they tried to pick up the pace. Scotland was solid in their defense all game long making it difficult for USA to generate offense.

The USMNT will practice tomorrow morning before their second game of the Atlantic Series that evening at 1:00 p.m. ET.

USFHA media release

Vantage Black Sticks Men come from behind to claim 3-all draw against Japan



The Vantage Black Sticks Men battled out a 3-3 draw with Japan in hot conditions in the opening match of their four game series in Shiga, Japan this evening.

It was the Black Sticks first game since arriving in the country on Wednesday afternoon, and played in stifling 30 degree plus temperatures.

Dominic Newman, the Canterbury midfielder, opened the scoring for the Black Sticks just before the end of the first quarter, but Japan struck back in the 2nd leaving the game tied up at 1:1 at half time, after an evenly contested first half.

Japan came out strong in the third quarter scoring two further goals either side of the quarter break to lead 3-1 deep into the fourth.

With their backs against the wall, the Kiwis rallied and scored two late goals, both Kane Russell bullets from penalty corners, with 6 minutes and 30 seconds to go to claim the hard fought draw.

The New Zealand side, including new talents Kieran O'Connor and Dylan Thomas on debut, seemed to struggle a little with their consistency of ball possession, and will be looking to improve their positioning and movement heading into their next match.

"I thought that today we were a couple of notches off our normal standards", said coach Darren Smith. "There were times we played some nice hockey but also other times we were untidy, gave the ball up and inconsistent in our defence.

"What was pleasing was that we were 3-1 down with seven to go and we were able to get a point out of the match with a spirited fightback".

The Vantage Black Sticks will play Japan again tomorrow, in the second game of the four game series, at 7pm NZ time.

VANTAGE BLACK STICKS: 3 (Dominic Newman 12', Kane Russell 52' and 60')

JAPAN: 3 (Kenta Tanaka 16', 45' and Kazuma Murata 46')

Half Time: 1:1

Hockey New Zealand Media release

England players show team values for women’s Hockey World Cup kit launch

By The Hockey Paper



Giselle Ansley says that England’s women’s World Cup shirt was created with the nation in mind as they helped to design a kit to propel them to World Cup glory for the first time.

England revealed their kit at a launch event at the Adidas store in Westfield White City on Thursday.

“It’s really important that we’re not just representing ourselves and the team but the nation,” said Ansley, England’s defender.

“For us that was incredibly important as was having the values put into our shirt. That was also incredibly special.”

The shirt has individual private messages for each player, while the teams values of ‘Create. Be. Inspire’ is stitched onto the back neck of both the home and away shirts – red and white respectively – for the event which starts on July 21.

The England team features eight members of the gold medal-winning squad for the Rio Olympics, while Laura Unsworth and Alex Danson remain from the London 2012 squad.

England face India in their opening Pool B encounter when action gets under way at Lee Valley on July 21 in front of 10,500 fans in London.

India coach Sjoerd Marijne recently told Sportskeeda: “They are going to be playing a home match in front of a packed stadium.

“The pressure will be on England – they will feel that they must win that match because they are No 2 in the world and we are No 10.”

The Hockey Paper

England hockey stars speak of concussion battles after World Cup journey ends

By Richard Bright


England Hockey’s Shona McCallin is still on road to recovery. Photo Ady Kerry

Olympians Nicola White and Shona McCallin have spoken of the “challenging” months which forced the duo out of the women’s Hockey World Cup through injuries.

Both stars are recovering from concussion which had already seen them miss the Commonwealth Games in April and have been working with medical teams in a bid to regain fitness.

McCallin, 26, has been on the sidlelines since February after a collision on the field in Argentina, while White, 30, has been recuperating for four months after an injury pre-Gold Coast. Both are attacking players and would have been key players in Danny Kerry’s World Cup squad.

McCallin, writing in a personal blog, said that she lacked motivation after realising her World Cup dream had been shattered, before slowly finding the steps back to “conquering” concussion.

She said: “I’d dreamt of this year year being filled with fun, laughter and some pretty cool tournaments – my first Commonwealth Games and my first World Cup. Instead of a dream, it’s turned into a bit of a nightmare.

“Since finding out I wouldn’t be going to the World Cup, tears have flowed and it’s been tough – especially the week after I found out. I wallowed on the sofa for a week and was just a general slob. I suffered with zero motivation and binged watched nearly the whole of Netflix. I was worlds apart from my usual motivated, get up and go kinda person.”


Photo: Stanislas Brochier World Sport Pics

Meanwhile White, 30, said: “I am still very much on the road to recovery after sustaining a concussion just over four months ago, prior to the Commonwealth Games.

“Though it has been a while, it is a challenging rehab which is still ongoing and therefore I was unable to be fit for selection.

“I was really hoping that I would be back in time for such an incredibly special event, so it has been a very difficult situation to take in and come to terms with.

“Sport and injury can be cruel sometimes but they also make you strong and this last year has certainly been my hardest test.

“Currently, I am still working with the medical team on reducing my symptoms and slowly progressing my rehab towards a better functionality.”

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The Hockey Paper

Tuks women’s hockey team adds another trophy

by Wilhelm de Swardt

The Tuks women’s team proved they were still the undisputed “Queens” of South African student hockey when they won the USSA title in Bloemfontein by beating Kovsies 1-0 in the final.

It means Tuks has been victorious in all three of the last tournaments they contested. Last year they achieved a unique double, winning the USSA as well as the Varsity Tournaments.

The ever-modest Inky Zondi (coach) ascribes his team's success to hard work, guts and pure passion.

“We had something to prove as many pundits did not believe that we had what it takes to defend the title. That certainly served as extra motivation.”

According to the Tuks players, Zondi is too modest, claiming that he is the real architect of their success. There is indeed truth in what they say because in his own words Zondi is forever a student of the game.

Zondi realised at the start of the season that he had to bring about change in the way his team went about things. Seven of last year’s all-conquering team was still playing, but there were also eight newcomers. Megan Anderson was also new in the role as captain. It meant the challenge Zondi faced was to adopt the team tactics to the individual skills of the newcomers.

“We don’t want to keep on playing the same year in and year out. It is all good and well for me to see the game in a certain way but I am not on the field playing. In other words, I need to keep on evolving as a coach,” explained Zondi.

Zondi was full of praise for the way Anderson and Marizen Marais (vice-captain) took responsibility for what happened on the astroturf. He was also impressed with the passion and commitment from Claire Gibbings.

Hockey can be a cruel game at times. The Tuks men’s hockey time can vouch for it. They ended up finishing third but with a bit of luck things so easily could have been different.

Before Tuks even took to the astroturf to play Maties in the semifinals, it was generally accepted that the game would turn out to be a humdinger, and with good reason. Tuks and Maties contested the Varsity final with the “Striped-up Team” being victorious. So Maties had something to prove.

If it were a boxing match, it would have been described as the two teams slugging it out “blow for blow”. With one minute remaining to fulltime, Tuks was leading 1-0 but then Maties equalised. That goal led to the game, in the end, being decided by a penalty shootout. Tuks lost.

“It was tough losing in the semis bearing in mind that this was the best tournament record this team has had with scoring the most goals and conceding the least goals. We were also unbeaten in the pool games. This is why it hurts only to finish third.

“We faced-off to UJ in the playoffs. Getting motivated for such a game was hard, but the lads showed professionalism which led to us winning 2-1 ending up getting ‘dirty gold’,” said Peabo Lembethe (Tuks captain).

SuperSport

U-18 and 16 girls warm up for Euro battles with five wins from six over Scotland



Ireland’s Under-16s and 18s won five out of six games with Scotland over the weekend at Jordanstown, warming up for their big summer tournaments in great style.

The Under-16s produced some lovely stuff over the weekend to win their series against Scotland at Jordanstown to build up to their Six Nations in Cork in great fashion.

Milly Lynch got their weekend off to the perfect start with a great drag-flick in off the right post in the first five minutes. Aisling Murray added another in the second quarter and Nicola Torrans stretched out the lead before half-time with a tap-in.

Scotland got one back in the second half but Murray restored the three-goal advantage with a rocket of a reverse into the top corner.

Emma Paul added a corner goal and captain Niamh McIvor made it 6-1 with a great finish to complete the win.

Game two ended in a 3-1 victory with Nikki Barry getting the only goal of the first half which ended 1-1. Eva Lavelle and Jenna McCarlie made the game safe in the second half.

And they closed out a great weekend with a 3-0 success on Sunday morning. Nicola Torrans got the first two, the first finishing off an excellent right wing move, the second following a turnover deep in Scotland territory.

Barry finished off the weekend with the third in the last few minutes.

Next on their agenda is a Six Nations tournament in Cork when they will come up against England, Belgium, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands.

The Irish Under-18s won two out of their three games at Jordanstown to put them in good shape for their European Championships in Santander.

They started off with a 3-1 win on Thursday. Christina Hamill got the only goal of the first half before the Scots tied it up but late goals from Caoimhe Perdue and Nadia Benallal won the day.

Game two ended in a 3-0 victory. Hannah Kelly scored the first in the third quarter; Yasmin Pratt added an absolute screamer for 2-0 and Amy Elliott got a corner goal for the victory.

They will fly out in midweek for the Euros in Spain, starting off with an opening tie against Germany next Sunday.

Under-16 Girls series (all at Jordanstown)
Thursday: Ireland 6 (A Murray 2, M Lynch, N Torrans, N McIvor, E Paul) Scotland 1 (Hay)
Saturday: Ireland 3 (N Barry, E Lavelle, J McCarlie) Scotland 1
Sunday: Ireland 3 (N Torrans 2, N Barry) Scotland 0

Under-16 Six Nations (all at the Mardyke)
Sunday, July 15: Ireland v Netherlands, 1pm
Monday, July 16: Ireland v England, 4pm
Wednesday, July 18: Ireland v Spain, 1pm
Thursday, July 19: Ireland v Belgium, 4pm
Saturday, July 21: Ireland v Germany, 3pm

Under-16 squad: Aisling Murray (Loreto), Aoife Glennon (Naas), Caoimhe Byrne (Newbridge), Charlotte Beggs (Rainey), Emma Paul (Bray), Eva Lavelle (Railway Union), Holly Micklem (YMCA), India Cotter (Muckross), Isabella Dunlop (Old Alex), Isabelle Maleady (Corinthian), Jenna McCarlie (Larne), Katie Craig (Ballymena), Lauren Armstrong (Omagh), Milly Lynch (Corinthian), Niamh McIvor (Mossley), Nicola Torrans (Corinthian), Nikki Barry (Ashton), Robin McLoughlin (Loreto)

Under-18 Girls series (all at Jordanstown)
Thursday: Ireland 3 (C Hamill, C Perdue, N Benallal) Scotland 1
Saturday: Ireland 3 (H Kelly, Y Pratt, A Elliott) Scotland 0
Sunday: Ireland 1 Scotland 2

European Under-18 Championship Fixtures, Santander:
Sunday, July 15: Ireland v Germany, 9.45am
Monday, July 16: Ireland v Belarus, 1.15pm
Wednesday, July 18: Ireland v England, 2.45pm
July 20/21: classification matches

Ireland squad for European Under-18 championships (Santander, July 15-21)

Goalkeepers (two from three will be selected for the Euros): Ellie McLoughlin (Naas), Iseult Cambay (Pembroke), Gemma Ferguson( Mossley)
Outfielders: Caitlin Sherin (Loreto), Caoimhe Perdue (Cork Harlequins), Lisa Mulcahy (Muckross), Alex Burns (Rainey), Kate Jane Marshall (Pembroke), Christina Hamill (Loreto), Olivia Berry (Banbridge), Charlotte Cope (Naas), Caroline Matthews (Muckross), Amy Elliott (Railway Union), Sofia Cole (Railway Union), Nadia Bennallal (Banbridge), Siofra O’Brien (Loreto), Yasmin Pratt (Muckross), Natasha Twomey (Muckross), Hannah Kelly (Old Alex)

Non Travelling Reserves: Laura Noble, Rachel Houston, Kate Gourley

The Hook