United States took on Japan a day after their FIH Hockey Women's Nations Cup match was originally scheduled to be played, following a general power outage in Chile which led to a government imposed a lockdown last evening. USA, who looked impressive in their first outing against Canada, winning the game 2-0, continued their winning ways, scoring two goals in each half to win 4-2, adding three more points in Pool A and qualifying for the semi-finals, with one pool match against hosts Chile still to be played.

USA 4 – 2 Japan

Three goals were scored in the opening half of the game, with all three coming in the first quarter. USA, who started the game on the front foot, capitalised on their momentum to score first in the 7th minute through Katie Dixon's reverse hit, following a failed attempt by a couple of Japanese defenders to clear Sophia Gladieux’s bobbled pass. Japan equalised in the 12th minute through Mai Toriyama, who latched on to an aerial pass in the USA circle and took on the shot from a narrow angle, sneaking it past Jennifer Rizzo on her near post. USA were back in lead in the final minute of the quarter however, with Keele Lepage firing home from the top of the circle with another vicious reverse hit that found the bottom corner of the goal to perfection.

Japanese head coach Akira Takahashi spoke at half time about his team needing to score first in the second half, but once again it was USA who made the better start and found the first goal of the half through Madeleine Zimmer, scoring from her team’s first penalty corner of the match in the 44th minute. USA added a fourth goal in the final quarter with Mia Schoenbeck scoring her first international goal! The Japanese goalkeeper would have normally expected to save Schoenbeck’s shot from the top of the circle, but her attempted kick missed the mark and deflected off her pad into the goal. Japan pulled one goal back through a Hanami Saito penalty stroke, but that proved to be no more than consolation as USA came away with a 4-2 win.

Maddie Zimmer was awarded player of the match for USA and said: “Really proud of the team and how we dealt with the postponed match. The conditions were very different compared to our first game which was much later in the evening. For the next game against Chile we will focus on improving our pressing a bit and bringing maximum energy across the entire 60 minutes, because we know Chile are a side that play with a lot of energy themselves.”

To see the current standings in the FIH Hockey Women’s Nations Cup, please click here.

Photo credit: FIH/WorldSportPics

FIH Women’s Nations Cup – 26 February 2025

Centro Deportivo de Hockey Césped, Estadio Nacional, Santiago Chile

Result - Match 8

USA 4 - 2 Japan

Player of the match: Madeleine Zimmer (USA)

Officials: Yoon Seon Kim (KOR), Megan Robertson (CAN), Zoe Hall (ENG - video)