Yet another easy win for the USA Women.
June 25, 2016 by Charlie Eisenhood in News, Recap with 0 comments
LONDON — The United States Women’s National Team completed their confident march towards gold with a 15-7 win over Colombia in the World Ultimate and Guts Championships final at Allianz Park.
The team’s depth of talent was simply unrivaled by Colombia or anyone else. Games were decided nearly from the start as the defense clamped down and the offense was nearly untouchable. Over 191 points played at Worlds, the offense yielded just four breaks. They did not give up a break against Colombia in the final.
“From the outside we always look at the scores,” said head coach Matty Tsang. “But there’s a lot that goes into getting a victory like that. I thought we did a really good job of coming together, putting egos aside, very quickly being in to both the system and the team and the experience.”
The United States may not have played their cleanest game or the “perfect game” captain Alex Snyder was hoping for, but a solid performance was more than enough. A shaky start on offense didn’t hurt them as Jenny Fey found Kami Groom for one of her three goals to open with a hold. Rohre Titcomb got a block on a shallow huck from Yina Cartagena and then marshaled the offense, eventually finding Maggie Ruden for the game’s first break.
USA added another break to open with a 3-0 run. After a Colombian hold, the United States went on another 3-0 run to open up a 6-1 lead. When Anna Nazarov put it in to Sarah “Surge” Griffith to bring the lead to five, you could feel the stadium heave as the game, even that early in the contest, really felt over. Griffith was one of ten US players to record a goal in the game.
“To have the full team working together as one big unit, you never know who the person is going to catch any particular goal,” said Katey Forth.
The Colombians settled down the offense at the point as the teams traded holds for ten points. But after Georgia Bosscher recorded one of her four assists on a pretty blade over the top of Elizabeth Mosquera to hit Mira Walker, the defense came back out and added two more breaks. The final point finished with a short pass from Dena Slattery to Forth.
“I heard the Mixed USA team shouting for me and you just feel like the whole country is behind you,” said Forth.
The young Colombian team — some players were as young as 16 — could never generate consistent pressure. But they are a team clearly on the rise.
“I think in the next cycle they will challenge for this title,” said Tsang, adding later, “If they add some depth and a little second punch, they are going to compete for this championship, definitely.”
Yina Cartagena, one of the division’s most impressive individual players, had a strong game in the loss, finishing with three assists and a goal. “I’m excited and proud of what we achieved,” she said through a translator.
“Colombia has been getting better and better,” she added. “And next time I think we will be able to reach first place in all of the divisions.”
This year, though, belongs to the United States. As the USA national anthem rang out over the loudspeakers in the stadium during the medal ceremony, one of the greatest Women’s teams ever assembled beamed with pride.
