U.S. Masters Collects Three Wins on Opening Day of WMH World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa
by USA Field Hockey
Images Courtesy of South African Masters Hockey#
92 photos
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - The U.S. Men's and Women's Masters Teams collected a combined three wins on the opening day of the 2022 World Masters Hockey (WMH) World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa. The O-50 Men defeated Singapore, O-55 Men Spirit of Masters topped Ireland and O-65 Women earned a win against Scotland. The O-55 Men fought in a high scoring match against Malaysia to finished tied while the O-45 Men fell to France and the O-60 Women dropped their opening contest to The Netherlands.
Saturday, October 1, 2022
O-45 Men 1 - 5 France
The U.S. O-45 Men's Masters Team faced a tough France in their opening game. Scoreless after the first quarter, France went on to score three in a 5-minute span, all off penalty corners. In the 39th minute, USA got on the board when Jose Rodriguez (Miami, Fla.) buried a penalty stroke, but France went on to add two more to their lead, both field goals, to claim the 5-1 win.
O-50 Men 1 - 0 Singapore
The U.S. O-50 Men's Masters Team had a closely contested match with Singapore. The only goal came from a penalty corner earned late in the fourth quarter by Angus Miller (Bedminster, N.J.) on a hard cross by Muru Annamalai (North Tustin, Calif.). Raj Goraya (Kent, Wash.) buried the shot in the left corner after a great stop by Hugo Mazzalupi (Wayne, Pa.) with a perfect injection by Miller.
An evenly played game, Coach Randall Hendricks made some thoughtful third quarter adjustments that applied continuous pressure on Singapore's defense that lead to the USA win. Solid work by Rino Bowman (Ventura, Calif.) and Goraya in the back line and Sau Thong Lee (Saint Johns, Fla.) and Marion Mueller (Barrington, R.I.) in the midfield allowed the team to have a significant possession advantage.
USA out earned Singapore 5-1 in penalty corners.
O-55 Men 5 - 5 Malaysia
O-55 Men Spirit of Masters 3 - 0 Ireland
In their first game of the WMH World Cup, the U.S. O-55 Men's Spirit of Masters Team blanked Ireland. Scoreless after the first quarter, USA got on the board 6-minutes into the second frame when Malik Akhtar (Owings Mills, Md.) scored off a penalty corner. Three minutes following the break, Akhtar tallied his second of the game after successfully converting a penalty stroke.
Michael Merkx (Moorestown, N.Y.) added his name to the scoresheet in the 68th minute off a field goal, to give USA the 3-0 win.
O-60 Women 0 - 3 Netherlands
The U.S. O-60 Women's Masters Team went up against a good opponent in The Netherlands in their tournament opener.
The Oranje caught USA on the back foot and scored their three goals in the first two quarters. USA regrouped during halftime and came back strong to hold the score at 3-0. Second half saw USA playing a much better game but unfortunately couldn’t equalize the score.
O-65 Women 1 - 0 Scotland
In a tight battle, the U.S. O-65 Women's Masters Team took on Scotland. Scoreless until the 26th minute, when captain Linda Kreiser (Middletown, Pa.) stepped up and scored off a penalty stroke to give USA the lead. The red, white and blue held on for the remainder of the game to tally a 1-0 win over Scotland.
DATE | TIME | TEAM | TEAM | STREAM | |
Sun., Oct. 2 | 2:30 AM | O-50W | vs | Chile | |
5:45 AM | O-55W | vs | Ireland | Livestream | |
7:45 AM | O-55M SoM | vs | England | Livestream | |
11:15 AM | O-50M | vs | Malaysia | Livestream | |
Mon., Oct. 3 | 4:15 AM | O-45M | vs | Zimbabwe | Livestream |
6:00 AM | O-55W | vs | Argentina | Livestream | |
7:30 AM | O-50M | vs | Wales | ||
9:30 AM | O-55M | vs | England | ||
Tues., Oct. 4 | 2:15 AM | O-55W | vs | Scotland | Livestream |
4:15 AM | O-55M | vs | South Africa | Livestream | |
5:45 AM | O-45M | vs | England | Livestream | |
5:45 AM | O-65W | vs | England | ||
7:45 AM | O-60W | vs | England | Livestream | |
9:30 AM | O-50W | vs | Scotland | Livestream | |
Wed., Oct. 5 | 2:15 AM | O-55M | vs | All | Livestream |
4:00 AM | O-55M | vs | Wales | ||
7:45 AM | O-45M | vs | South Africa | ||
11:00 AM | O-60W | vs | LX SoM | ||
Thurs., Oct. 6 | 4:00 AM | O-50W | vs | Germany | Livestream |
4:15 AM | O-50M | vs | Germany | ||
4:15 AM | O-65W | vs | All SoM | ||
6:00 AM | O-55M | vs | Argentina | ||
9:15 AM | O-55W | vs | Chile | Livestream | |
9:30 AM | O-60W | vs | South Africa | ||
Fri., Oct. 7 | 7:45 AM | O-50M | vs | South Africa SoM | Livestream |
9:15 AM | O-45M | vs | Malaysia | Livestream | |
11:15 AM | O-55W | vs | South Africa | Livestream | |
Sat., Oct. 8 | 2:00 AM | O-65W | vs | England LX | Livestream |
All times in Eastern Time Zone |