Hockey team booted out of World Cup title chase

Allen Khumalo, Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Under-21 hockey team has been knocked out of the Women’s Hockey Junior World Cup 2016 title chase in Santiago, Chile following a 13-0 loss to world number one Netherlands in their last Pool A match on Sunday.

The country failed to register a single win in their pool matches.

Netherlands topped the group with nine points followed by the United States of America (USA) with six points while South Korea was third with three points.

Zimbabwe crashed to USA 10-0 in their first match and suffered a morale sapping 6-0 defeat against South Korea in their second game.

However, Zimbabwe head coach Patricia Davies said there is no reason to mourn as the competition gave the girls, ranked number 58 in the world, a platform to grow, learn and become a team to watch out for.

“We had the privilege and honour to play against Netherlands, the current world number one ranked team and our girls did not disappoint.

“The girls played with so much courage, heart and commitment for 70 minutes and never gave up or slowed down until that final whistle blew. The girls held off Netherlands for 10 minutes before the first goal went in. We fought hard but the sheer skill and talent of the Netherlands shone through and at half time we were 9-0 down,” she said.

“As our girls have been showing us in this tournament, they came into the second half with more fire, more energy and more courage than we knew they had in them. They held Netherlands to a final score of 13-0. An incredible feat and an incredible experience for each player to rub shoulders and play against current and future olympians,” Davies said.

She praised the Zimbabwean goalkeeper Jordan Clipstone for her impressive performance in the game.

“Special mention must go to the Zimbabwe goalie Jordan Clipstone who saved some of the most incredible shots at goal and who had a fantastic performance out there, almost 40 shots were made at us and she saved all but 13. She was incredible,” said Davies.

Meanwhile, USA, Spain and Belgium joined Netherlands and Argentina in the Quarter-Finals following the final Pool A and D matches today.

Pool A

Team
P    W    D    L    GD    Pts
Netherlands    3    3    0    0    25    9
USA                  3    2    0    1    7    6
South Korea    3    1    0    2    -3    3
Zimbabwe        3    0    0    3    -29    0

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