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Canada finishes fifth in field hockey at Commonwealth Games

Four North Shore players help national women's team to best ever finish

The Canadian women’s field hockey team scored their best ever Commonwealth Games finish last week on Australia’s Gold Coast, knocking off South Africa in the fifth-place game.

North Shore players Hannah Haughn, Rachel Donohoe, Steph Norlander and Karli Johansen were on hand as Canada scored a 3-1 win to finish fifth, beating their previous best of sixth place scored in 2010.

Canada’s defensive core, including Johansen, was rock solid all tournament, only allowing three goals in five games. The offence, however, struggled to find the net, going goalless through their first three games which included a 1-0 loss to Australia followed by 0-0 ties against Scotland and New Zealand. The Canadians finally found the net in their final game of pool play, defeating Ghana 5-1 to solidify third place in the pool and book a spot in the fifth-place game where they jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held on for the win.

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Karli Johansen. photo Yan Huckendubler/Commonwealth Games Canada

“This was a great showing from our team, and now it really feels like the beginning of something great,” stated team captain Kate Wright in a Field Hockey Canada release. “We stuck to our game plan all tournament and it was really nice to see where we measure up.”

New Zealand won the final over Australia while England defeated India for bronze. All four of those teams are ranked in the top-10 in the world, while South Africa is ranked 14th and Canada 21st. Wright said the young Canadian squad will be gunning for more next time they line up for an international tournament.

“I think we belong in the medal round with the best countries in the world,” she said. “We’re definitely proud of how we played but we’re not satisfied. We want to make sure, next time we come up against those top countries, we’re beating them. It’s that simple.”

On the men’s side North Vancouver’s Taylor Curran donned the red and white as Canada went 1-4 to finish in eighth place.

West Vancouver’s Harry Jones was also in Australia last weekend competing for Canada in rugby sevens. The Canadians opened with a 26-10 loss to Kenya before bouncing back with a 47-0 win over Zambia. Their tournament then ended with a 33-7 loss to New Zealand, Canada’s 1-2 record not qualifying them for the playoffs. The powerhouse All Blacks went on to win gold with a 14-0 victory over Fiji in the final.