WMH World Cup Continues On, U.S. Masters Teams Making Great Strides
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - As the 2024 World Masters Hockey (WMH) World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa continues on, the U.S. Masters Teams are making great strides. The O-40 and O-65 Men wrapped up pool play, while the O-40 Women will play for 5th to 8th place after falling to Chile in the quarterfinals.
Day 5: October 16 #
O-65 Men 0 - 5 Ireland #
In their third pool game, the O-65 Men played much better, especially behind the performance of goalkeeper Rene Granat (Midlothian, Va.). On the attack, the red, white and blue kept the game small with close passes and entered their attacking circle a few times. Ireland tallied in the 8th minute but USA's defense worked hard to keep the deficiet low, as USA trailed 1-0 at the half.
USA struggled in the third and fourth periods as passes were not getting through and possession was always contested. USA captain Alva Serrette (Lagrange, Ga.) defended well and prevented a few goals, but in the 38th minute, Ireland extended their lead to 2-0 off a penalty corner. In the fourth quarter, Ireland put it out of reach when they added three more to the margin for a final of 0-5.
O-40 Men 0 - 10 South Africa #
It was a defensive test for the U.S. O-40 Men when they faced South Africa. USA trailed 0-2 at the break, with goals coming in the 11th and 21st minutes. But South Africa showed their attacking dominance tallying three consecutive goals in the 32nd minute. They added one more at the close of the third frame to make it 0-6.
South Africa went on to put up four more in the fourth for the 0-10 final.
Day 6: October 17 #
Quarterfinal: O-40 Women 1 - 5 Chile #
The U.S. O-40 Women found themselves in an early hole in their quarterfinal against Chile. Their opponents tallied three goals in the first quarter, in the 4th, 8th and 14th minutes repsectively, and the red, white and blue knew they had to dig deep to respond. It took USA until the 40th minute to cut the margin when Pattie Gillern (Medford, N.J.) scored off a penalty corner.
Chile added two more to the score line in the final 7 minutes to make the final 1-5.
O-65 Men 1 - 4 Italy #
The U.S. O-65 Men met Italy in their final pool game. The match started with high intensity as USA had more connections and the ball movement was fluid. However, it was Italy who struck first in the 8th minute, but USA responded with their own goal three minutes later. It started with great midfield possession to get the ball to Onkar Bhowra (Phoenix, Ariz.) who carried and eliminated defenders to get into the circle. He passed it off to Manmohan Singh (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) who converted on a field goal. Even at 1-1 after the first quarter, the match seemed to be anyone's for the taking.
Italy took the lead in the 20th minute and the match was 2-1 at the half. USA produced several penalty corner chances, but three minutes inside the third quarter Italy extended their lead to 3-1 and sealed the 4-1 win in the 46th minute off a penalty corner.
For more information on the WMH World Cup Cape Town, including schedule, results, rosters and livestream information, check out the event page by clicking here.