The U.S. women’s field hockey team rallied for its most important tie in 12 years against Argentina on Sunday. But this morning at 6 at Olympic Green Hockey Stadium in Beijing, the team will try to pick up its biggest win in more than a decade against Japan in front of a global television audience on USA Network.
It took one of the team’s best efforts in years to tie Argentina, as the U.S. rallied from a 2-0 deficit. The U.S., ranked 11th in the world, got a spark from a trio of former University of Maryland standouts. Forward Keli Smith, scored the team’s first goal to ignite the comeback, and Dina Rizzo and Lauren Powley also played important roles for the red, white and blue.
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“To play the world number two [Argentina] in your first game in the Olympics and come away with a 2-2 draw, we are, to a degree, satisfied,” U.S. coach Lee Bodimeade told reporters. “We knew that we had to bring our best game.”
The Americans also have to bring their best against Japan.
The Japanese, ranked sixth in the world, defeated New Zealand on Sunday, 2-1. The top pair of teams from two, six-team pools advance to the semifinals. Group B is led by defending Olympic champion Germany, (1-0-0, 3 points), followed by Japan (1-0-0, 3), Argentina (0-0-1, 1), America (0-0-1, 1), New Zealand (0-1-0, 0) and Great Britain (0-1-0, 0).
