South Africa and the USA were looking for their first win of the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup, when the two sides met in the third game of Pool A at the Heartfelt Arena on Tuesday morning.
The host nation got off to a great start with Edith Molikoe winning a short corner but South Africa failed to convert the chance. The USA eventually found the back of the net through Hannah Miller in the 13th minute. Towards the end of the quarter South Africa pushed for the equalising goal but fell short in their efforts, with the score at 1-0 to the USA at half time.
Abigail Burnett doubled the visiting team’s lead in the first minute of the 3rd quarter, before Tegan Fourie pulled one back for South Africa. Following Fourie’s goal, the home team was filled with more belief and it did not take long before captain Jess O’Connor got South Africa levelled. This was also O’Connor’s second goal of the tournament.
With the score locked at 2-all, both teams put their best foot forward in an effort to find the winning goal, but the sides had to settle for a draw.
Speaking after the game Fourie said: “The game against the USA was a very competitive game and unfortunately we did not manage to get the win. From the begin we were a little bit behind our normal standard but we came back in the second half and we managed to pull two goal back.
“We tried really hard to get that all important third goal because we needed the win today. We are playing Australia tomorrow and we are looking forward to taking them on and getting our first win of the tournament because we want to make it to the quarter finals.”
South Africa will play their fourth game against Australia on Wednesday, 8 February 2023, at Heartfelt Arena in Pretoria.
Photo 1 Caption: South Africa and the USA had to settle for a point a piece, registering their first points in the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup at the Heartfelt Arena in Pretoria. Photo: FIH Hockey
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