The large and noisy crowd packed into Changzhou’s Wujin Hockey Stadium to witness China women’s final match of the inaugural FIH Pro League season were not to be disappointed, with the hosts recording a thoroughly deserved 4-0 victory over USA on Saturday (15 June).
Goals from Peng Yang, Gu Bingfeng, Zhang Xiaoxue and Guo Qiu ensured that China ended their campaign in style, with the result moving the home favourites up to seventh in the standings, ahead of Great Britain who face the Netherlands in London later today. USA are now certain to finish bottom of the table, but will look to end their own campaign on a high when the face Germany on home soil on 22 June. To see the current women’s FIH Pro League standings, click here.
Despite both hosts China (FIH World Ranking: 10) and USA (WR:12) coming into this contest knowing that their hopes of a top four finish in the FIH Pro League had long since vanished, the match certainly had the feel that there was more at stake than simply national pride. Following their 3-1 victory in the reverse fixture at the Spooky Nook Sports Complex in Pennsylvania, Janneke Schopman’s USA team arrived in Changzhou knowing that they had the chance of doing the double over China, while the hosts were looking to avenge that loss and and also finish their FIH Pro League campaign on a positive note.
China were dominant but wasteful in the first two quarters, missing numerous clear goal-scoring chances from both open play and penalty corner situations. As she has been throughout USA’s Pro League campaign, goalkeeper Kelsey Bing was in excellent form and made a number of crucial saves while Guo Qiu fired wide of the target with the goal at her mercy.
The crowd erupted when China finally made the breakthrough one minute before half time, with Peng Yang finishing off a frantic period of China pressure with a close-range tap-in. The USA decided to challenge the goal, but their referral to the video umpire was unsuccessful.
The home side were outstanding in the third quarter and, following three top class saves from Bing, took the score to 3-0 thanks to Gu Bingfeng’s low penalty corner drag-flick and an emphatic finish from Zhang Xiaoxue, rattling her strike from the right of the circle into the goal via the left post.
The USA played arguably their best hockey of the game toward the end of the third quarter and had the ball in the back of the China net thanks to Erin Matson, but the goal was correctly ruled out due to the ball hitting Matson’s foot just before she fired home.
China put the result beyond all doubt just one minute into the fourth quarter when Guo Qiu made it 4-0 with a cool, flicked finish after some outstanding work from Zhang Xiaoxue, who covered 50 metres in possession before splitting the USA defence with a perfect pass to the goalscorer. It was the final goal of the game, with USA joining Germany, Great Britain and New Zealand as teams to have been defeated by China in this year’s FIH Pro League.
“I want to thank all of the spectators who came to cheer team China today”, said Player of the Match Zhang Xiaoxue. “We have been through a lot in the FIH Pro League, but we have learned a lot and improved a lot. It has given us a really good opportunity to be a better team.”
The FIH Pro League continues later today when women’s Olympic champions Great Britain face world champions the Netherlands at Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in London. To see the complete match schedule, click here.
Keep up to date with all the latest news on the FIH Pro League via the event website and through FIH social media channels - Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
FIH Pro League - 15 June 2019
Wujin Hockey Stadium, Changzhou (CHN)
Result: Women’s Match 63
China 4, USA 0
Player of the Match: Zhang Xiaoxue (CHN)
Umpires: Ivona Makar (CRO), Aleisha Neumann (AUS) and Rawi Anbananthan (MAS - video)
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