The U.S and Canadian Women played a two match playoff to determine the North American representative for the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile from 20 October to 5 November, 2023.
Match 1
– Date/Time: Thursday 10 November, 2022 / 1900 US ET / Canada ET
– Venue: Lansing City Arena, Lansing, Michigan, USA
– Web Streaming: Link
– Match Report: Link
USA – Canada 14-21 (8-9)
The first half was a hard fought defensive struggle with Canada leading most of the way by 1 or 2 goals. The U.S. kept in touch and eventually tied the score 8-8 towards the end of the first half before a late goal by Canada’s Maksi Pallas made it 9-8 to end the half
The U.S. started the 2nd half well and following a fast break goal by Cecilie Brown they took their first lead of the match at 10-9. However, from that point on it was all Canada as they responded over the next 20 minutes with 10 unanswered goals for a commanding 19-10 lead. The U.S. was able to dip into the lead somewhat over the final 8 minutes for the eventual final score of 21-14.
Canada’s Emily Routhier led all scorers with 5 goals and her teammates Myriam Zimmer and Maksi Pallas added 4 each. The U.S. scoring attack was led my Cecilie Brown and Emma Ready with 4 a piece and Kathy Darling adding 3.
Match 2
– Date/Time: Sunday, 13 November, 2022 / 1400 US ET / Canada ET
– Venue: Ècole de la Magdeleine, La Prairie, Quebec, Canada
– Web Streaming: 1st Half (last 13 minutes only) 2nd Half
– Match Report: Link
Canada – USA 23-17 (14-9)
A sold out and boisterous crowd at the Ècole de la Magdeleine (near Montreal) helped propel Canada to another victory over the U.S. The first 20 minutes of the match were close, but Canada was able to pull away in the last 10 minutes of the half for for a 14-9 lead halftime lead.
In the 2nd half Canada got off to a good start and after a fast break goal my Myriam Zimmer Canada went up by 7 (16-9) with 27 minutes left. The U.S., however, fought back and held Canada to just 1 goal over the next 16 minutes cutting the lead to 17-13 at the midway point of the half. Following a timeout, Canada then reasserted their dominance and gradually pulled away for the final 23-17 score.
The USA’s Kathy Darling led all scorers with 9 goals with Emma Ready and Sabrina McGaurin contributing 3 and 2 goals respectively. Myriam Zimmer led Canada with 6 goals while Emily Routhier had 4 and Maksi Pallas 2.
Aggregate Result: Canada 37, USA 24
Canada qualifies for the 2023 PANAM Games
Both matches were officiated by Erick Belmonte / Juan Coba (MEX) and the North American & Caribbean Handball Confederation (NACHC) technical delegates were Alejandro Martinez and David Portillo.
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Note: The playoff between the U.S. and Canadian Men has not been scheduled yet.
