Wake Forest Athletics
Crandall Adds Another At Junior World Cup
9/18/2005 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Sept. 18, 2005
Santiago, Chile - Wake Forest junior scored her fifth goal of the tournament, helping lead the United States to a 3-1 comeback victory over Chile, in the second phase of competition at the Women's Junior World Cup in Santiago, Chile.
With the win, the USA remains atop the Pool E standings with seven points. The USA has two games remaining in the pool against Australia on Tuesday before concluding Pool play against Spain on Wednesday. The top two teams in the pool qualify for the tournament semifinals.
The USA controlled play throughout the first half but was unable to convert on three penalty corner opportunities.
With another large crowd providing support for the home team, Chile took advantage of one of its only trips deep into the U.S. circle to score a goal when American University sophomore Denise Infante knocked in a loose ball in front of the cage to give Chile a 1-0 halftime lead.
But like they have in a 4-2 win over England and a 2-2 draw with the Netherlands, the U.S. clawed back in the second half.
"Going into halftime a goal down didn't upset us at all," said U.S. forward Katie Grant (Lehighton, Pa./Duke) who helped spark the second half comeback. "It just pumped us more. We just came out with some fire. We looked to get the ball into the circle and rip some shots and that's what we did."
Seven minutes into the second half, Grant wove her way into the Chile circle and dished a pass in front of the cage that O'Donnell deposited into the back of the goal to pull the USA even at 1-1.
"It was one of those adrenaline things," said Grant. "i just started going and going. We had discussed how aggressive this keeper was so when I saw her coming out I just put it in the middle hoping someone could put it in."
The USA pulled ahead seven minutes later when Lauren Crandall (Doyelstown, Pa./Wake Forest) smashed a penalty corner blast into the back of the cage for her fourth goal of the tournament and a 2-1 U.S. lead.
O'Donnell added her second goal of the game with five minutes left in the game to seal the win and keep alive the USA hopes for a semifinal berth.
"We came out really strong in the second half," said USA coach Tracey Fuchs. "Scoring three goals in the second half against a good team like Chile is really awesome. But we're just going to keep taking them one game at a time. We have Australia next and that should be a really fun match."
