World News
Canada, Ireland play to scoreless draw in opening leg of women’s Olympic qualifier
Canada and Ireland failed to score in women’s field hockey Saturday in the first leg of a two-game Olympic qualifier at a rainy Donnybrook Stadium in Dublin.Canada’s women’s field hockey team played Ireland to a 0-0 draw in the opening leg of their two-game Olympic qualifying series in Dublin. The Canadians will need a victory…
Canada and Ireland failed to score in women's field hockey Saturday in the first leg of a two-game Olympic qualifier at a rainy Donnybrook Stadium in Dublin.
Canada's women will need to win but only by a margin of one goal on Sunday to secure a spot in the 12-team Olympic field hockey tournament next summer in Tokyo.
In a driving rain, the Canadians played Ireland to a 0-0 draw in the first leg of the two-game qualifying set on Saturday at Donnybrook Stadium in Dublin.
“We're from Vancouver and there's a lot of rain there, so we were ready for the weather,” said captain Kate Wright of the world No. 15 Canadians, a member of the 2008 national team that finished fourth at an Olympic qualifier in Victoria. “We played a good, hard [and] attacking style.”
This weekend's two-legged series is being played using an aggregate score format, meaning the team with the highest number of goals wins.
WATCH | The first leg between Canada and Ireland:
Canada faces Ireland in Dublin as they battle for a spot in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. 1:40:44
Canada hasn't played in an Olympics since finishing seventh in Barcelona in 1992.
I'm very proud of my teammates for being gritty. … We're going to analyze the video and come out firing tomorrow.— Canada captain Kate Wright on the team's 0-0 draw against Ireland in the opener of a two-game Olympic qualifying series
While eighth-ranked Ireland carried much of the play Saturday, Canada had a couple of late scoring chances, including Sara McManus off a penalty corner.
“I'm very proud of my teammates for being gritty,” said the 30-year-old Wright, whose 267 games is the most for a Canadian woman. “That was our focus today [to] play tough defence. We're going to analyze the [game] video and come out firing tomorrow.”
WATCH | Kate Wright: ‘We played a good, hard, attacking style':
Canadian women's field hockey team captain reflects on opening game vs. Ireland. 0:48
In a 2018 series against Ireland — the World Cup silver medallists last year — Canada earned a 3-0 win and a 1-1 draw.
Canada advanced to the qualifier by virtue of its silver-medal performance in June at the FIH Hockey Series Finals in Valencia, Spain.
Coach Giles Bonnet, who will be leaving the Canadian squad after the qualifier because Field Hockey Canada can't afford him, guided the women to a fifth-place finish at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and a silver medal at the Pan Am Games nearly three months ago.
Canada or Ireland, plus the winners of two other series will head to Tokyo, joining the already qualified Japan, Argentina, South Africa, Australia, China, India, Spain, New Zealand and the Netherlands.
Game time on Sunday is 2 p.m. ET and will be streamed live at CBCSports.ca.
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