Indian women's hockey team lose 0-3 to US

Pakuranga (Auckland), April 18 (IANS) The Indian women's hockey team went down 0-3 to the US in their first match of the second leg of the Four-Nation Tournament at the Lloyd Elsmore Hockey Stadium here Wednesday.

The US dominated the proceedings as India played insipidly with numerous unforced errors. The goal scorers for the Americans were Shannon Taylor (penalty corner 14th minute), Paige Selenski (30th minute) and Michelle Cesan (47th minute).

India took the field without central midfielder Asunta Lakra suffering from a sprained neck which helped their rivals to maneuver their attacks into the Indian striking circle without much difficulty. There was pressure on Indian deep defenders Joydeep Kaur and Kirandeep Kaur who were unable to rise to the occasion.

India should have taken an early lead but Anuradha Thokchom who was setup after a good move by Poonam Rani and Ritu Rani failed to beat US goalkeeper Amy Swensen.

Shortly after Rani also missed an easy scoring opportunity as she could not beat the goalkeeper on the one to one situation.

US took the lead in the 14th minute from a penalty corner rebound scored by Shannon Taylor. India tried to find the equalizer and earned two penalty corners. While the first one was easily intercepted, the second one, a direct set piece by Deepika was stopped on the goal line by Michelle Dawson.

US increased their tally in the 30th minute when Paige Selenski beat Indian goalkeeper Yogita Bali after dodging past the fullbacks.

As India continued to commit unforced errors, the US sealed India's fate when they scored their third goal in the 47th minute through Michelle Cesan. India next face Australia, Thursday.