TERRASSA, Spain North Vancouver’s Grace Delmotte scored on her Canadian debut but Argentina reeled off seven straight goals Thursday to defeat Canada 7-1 at the women’s field hockey World Cup.
No. 14 Canada, making its first appearance at the World Cup since 1994, dropped to 0-3-0 and now moves into consolation placement play Monday.
No. 2 Argentina (3-0-0) won Pool C ahead of Spain (2-1-0). Both move on the quarter-finals.
The Canadians, who earlier lost 3-2 to South Korea and 4-1 to Spain, finished forth in the group behind Korea (1-2-0).
Delmotte’s goal was just Canada’s third against Argentina since 2013. Victoria forward Maddie Secco made her 150th international appearance for Canada.
“Obviously losing by six goals in the World Cup is never something you enjoy,” said Canadian coach Rob Short, who played in the 1998 and 2010 men’s events. “It’s obviously a very impressive Argentina team but we didn’t play very well.
“Today wasn’t our best performance. We played really well in the first two matches of the tournament so we are a disappointed group today but we are playing for ninth place now and we want to push and play well.”
The Canadian women missed out on the last six World Cups since finishing 10th in 1994, which marked the last of six straight appearances at the tournament. Canada’s best showing was a silver medal in 1983, with a bronze in 1986.
The 16-team World Cup runs through July 18 in Terrassa, Spain and Amsterdam.
The Canadian Press