U.S. Field Hockey upsets No. 2 Argentina in Olympic opener
The United States has a lot of dominant teams and individuals at the Olympics. The women’s field hockey team is not often mentioned among them.
But the U.S. women got their tournament off to a fantastic start in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday with a 2-1 upset of Argentina, the No. 2 team in the FIH World Rankings.
The U.S. took a 1-0 lead in the third period, minutes after Argentina had a goal ruled out by a video review. Midfielder Katie Reinprecht got the goal that broke the 0-0 deadlock.
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The Americans then made it 2-0 in the fourth and final period through Michelle Kasold.
Argentina pulled a goal back with three minutes remaining, but the U.S. held on for the upset.
The Americans were not gold medal favorites coming into the competition. They are ranked fifth in the world, but are the third-highest ranked team in their group, behind Argentina and No. 3 Australia.
Olympic field hockey uses a group-to-knockout round format that begins with two round robin pools of six teams each, with the top four in each group advancing to the quarterfinals. The U.S.’s win puts it in a fantastic position after just one game.
[Related: Breaking down the U.S. Olympic Team by home state]
The American roster is made up of a large Northeast contingent. Twelve of the team’s players are from Pennsylvania. The rest are from New Jersey (4), Virginia (3), North Carolina (3), New Jersey (2) and Delaware (1).
The U.S. plays its second game against Australia, another top team, on Monday at 9 a.m. EST.
