Aug. 10, 2012
LONDON - The United States women's field hockey team was edged out by Belgium on Friday morning, 2-1, in the classification match and Olympic finale at Riverbank Arena. The U.S. finishes the 2012 London games in 12th place.
A goal on a penalty corner by Belgium's Gaelle Valcke in the 51st minute proved to be the difference on Friday after a tie game at half. The U.S. struck first in the game as Paige Selenkski roped one into the cage in the sixth minute for a quick 1-0 lead but the Belgians got the equalizer in the 20th minute by Alix Gerniers.
Despite outshooting (15-10) and putting more targets on goal (10-6), the U.S. was not able to capitalize on any of their five penalty corners while Belgium was 1 for 4 on penalty corners.
Former ODU star and 2006 CAA Player of the Year Caroline Nichols played 53 minutes on Friday, her most in any of the United States' six games. All totaled, Nichols played in 301 minutes in the 2012 Olympics for an average of over 50 minutes per contest.
The United States closes the games with a record of 1-5. The Americans' lone win came against Argentina (5-1), who plays later Friday night in the Gold medal match against the Netherlands.