February 27, 2010 - Drammen, Norway - The US Women's Bandy team continued play in the 2010 World Championship with games against powerhouse Russia, and their neighbors to the north, Canada. The US squad remained winless as they dropped the first game of the day to Russia by a score of 5-0, and the matinee to Canada by a score of 1-0.

The Russian game was a physical match in which the American squad simply couldn't overcome the ball handling skills of the Russian team, who seemed to have the ball glued to their klubbans at times as they weaved their way through a gauntlet of US defenders swiping at the ball and trying to knock it away.  The US did have their chances on offense, but their best scoring chance ended with a ball clanging off the post late in the contest.  The Russian team has been gaining in strength the past three World Championships despite ending as runner up to Sweden each time. Many Bandy experts believe this team could be the one that finally gets past the Swedish team this year. Laura Evanson had an impressive outing in goal, stopping a number of great scoring chances for the Russians.


In the Canada match, the US came out firing on all cylinders, and took the game to the Canadian squad. In the first half, quite a few scoring opportunities were created on long chips into the goal area by Sharon Cole and Sarma Özmen, but they just couldn't get it past the Canadian goalkeeper. The Americans controlled play for much of the first half, but had nothing to show for it. Late in the half, the Canadians began to gain some offensive momentum, and were able to create some corner strokes. One of those corner strokes led to the only goal of the game when the US couldn't clear the ball after two saves by goalkeeper Sarah Harms Master, and Canada's Morgan Jones was able to jam the rebound into the net through the scrum of players. The half ended at 1-0 for the Canadians.  The second half turned into a stalemate, as both teams attempted to use a chipping game to create some offense.  Much of the play took place in the middle of the field, except for the occasional rush up the boards, which was usually cut off by the opposing teams defenders before it could develop into anything meaningful. No significant scoring opportunities presented themselves in the second half, as Canada seemed content to go into a defensive shell to protect their one goal lead, and were able to hang on for the 1-0 victory.

The U.S. next will play Finland in their final game of the round robin tournament.

Follow all of the matches at  www.bandy2010.com

~ Thom Wynn