Bhubaneswar: The Netherlands started the second mini-tournament of the Women’s FIH Hockey Pro League season 5 with an emphatic 7-0 victory against the United States at the Kalinga Stadium here on Saturday. The Netherlands’ dominant victory over the United States extends their winning streak to start the 2023/24 season to five games.
The Dutch were patient in the first half, Luna Fokke firing one in after some good interplay along the left baseline in the 13th minute, and Pien Dicke making it two a minute later with similar interplay along the right baseline.
The USA defended well for a goalless second quarter to trail 2-0 at half-time, but the Dutch were very much in control and it was no surprise when they picked up the intensity in the second half.
The third goal came as Dutch pressure induced an error for their opposition. Dicke intercepted a high-risk pass at the top of the circle and had all the time in the world to pick her spot.
More impressive interplay set Dicke up for a tap-in to complete her hat-trick and the USA found themselves under siege, Kealsie Robles being called on repeatedly in the American goal. Dicke was quickest to the pads off a penalty corner rebound for her fourth goal, and Yibbi Jansen closed out the scoring with two confidently executed penalty strokes in the dying minutes.
With that, Jansen’s tournament tally grew to seven goals to keep the newly introduced top scorer’s armband, but after Saturday’s match, Dicke is hot on her heels with five goals.
–IANS
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