Ireland capped their return to the Women’s Hockey World Cup after a gap of 16 years with a 3-1 win over higher ranked USA on the opening day of the competition in London on Saturday.
Deirdre Duke scored a brace while Shirley McCay found the net once with a penalty corner conversion while Margaux Paolino scored the consolation goal for the Americans.
The Irish women led 2-1 after the first quarter and had to endure a barrage of American attacks after scoring the two goals. But their custodian Ayeisha McFerran was in sparkling form as he made over a dozen saves. She was also slightly lucky when USA were denied the equaliser after an indirect penalty corner routine by the crossbar just before half time.
Ireland, who next face India, now lead the group standings with three points.
In the day’s other matches, Germany defeated South Africa 3-1 with Viktoria Huse scoring a brace and Charlotte Stapenhorst finding the net once. Lisa-Marie Deetlefs scored the only goal for South Africa by deflecting a penalty corner inside the net.
Later in the day, Japan gave world number one Australia a run for their money but still fell short in a 3-2 loss in Pool D.
Australia raced through to a 3-0 lead thanks to goals from Rosie Malone, Emily Hurtz and Jodie Kenny. But instead of sitting back, Japan decided to take the fight to the opposition and reduced the margin through Motomi Kawamura and Akiko Kato.