FIH Pro League Hockey: India Women beat USA via shootout in Rourkela

With this win, the Indian women completed their FIH Pro League campaign at home with five defeats and three wins – twice against the US and once against Australia.

Indian players celebrate a goal against USA in the FIH Pro League. (Image: Hello)

Rourkela: A day after upsetting world number 3 Australia, the Indian women played another entertaining and fast-paced brand of hockey on Sunday to beat the United States 2-1 via shootout in an FIH Pro League match. The regular period ended in a 1-1 stalemate, with India scoring in the 19th minute through young drag flicker Deepika Kumari and the US equalizing through Ashley Seesa in the 45th minute.

Mumtaz Khan and Sonika were on target in the shootout, while Leah Crouse scored for the losing team. Despite the win, India's head coach, Janneke Schopman, is said to be unhappy with the way the Savita Punia-led side dominated for the most part and still could not win the match within regulation time despite earning several penalty corners .

Sunday's victory came after India defeated USA 3-1 in the Bhubaneswar leg of the Pro League. The victory would have calmed the nerves of the more than 20,000 spectators in the stadium, who saw US score the equalizer in the final minutes of the third quarter.

India finished its Pro League matches at home with five defeats and three wins: twice against the US and once against Australia. After beating Australia at the same venue on Saturday, the Indians were certainly resilient, but they showed a tendency to hang on to the ball for far too long and their penalty corner conversion remained abysmal.

Four minutes into the second quarter, India earned their first PC and Deepika fired home, sending a solid and low shot into the bottom right corner of the goal. The US team was a bundle of energy throughout and desperately tried to get back into the match, but against the run of play India earned three more penalty corners before the end of the second quarter, none of which were converted.

In the closing moments of the third quarter, the Americans went for a penalty corner variant and it worked. Alexandra Hammel went for the shot and Savita dropped to her knees to make the save. However, Ashley, who had done the PC injection, was then quickly on her way to the goal. As the rebound fell awkwardly, the American dived forward and fired a beautiful running shot over the goalkeeper and into the net.

The fourth quarter did not produce a goal, although a desperate Lalremsiami played a cross from the right, but the American defense stood firm.