Oh, Canada!

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Michael E. Iacovella

No matter when the real Canadian holiday falls, Sunday, August 2nd was Canada Day in Finland. Canadian teams registered 11 wins in 11 games yesterday, including Team Canada’s convincing defeat of Team USA in the Women’s division.

After coming out red-hot, Team USA’s offense stalled to the tune of an 8-1 Canada run, which extended through halftime. Intense defense was the key for Canada, with Leslie Calder #7 and Jillian MaGuire #5 leading the charge. Unforced errors were costly for the Americans, with Canada capitalizing on nearly every turnover. Team Canada scored the final three points to close the game at 17-10.

Disparity is queen in the Women’s division with Canada, USA, Japan, Sweden, Finland, Great Britain, and Australia refusing to yield more than 5 points a game to other opponents. This with the exception of Sweden, who came up 3-points shy of victory against the USA.

Games to look out for today include USA vs. Great Britain and Canada vs. Sweden in the first round, Finland vs. Australia in round two, and Japan vs. Finland in tonight’s feature game at Paavo Nurmi Stadium. Australia’s two women’s teams placed higher than all other non-North American teams at the 2002 World Ultimate Club Championships in Hawaii, and present a solid, unified force from Down Under. Japan has looked consistently strong in recent years, and are aiming straight for the finals, which they lost to Canada at the 2000 Heilbronn World Ultimate Championships.

 
A Canadian defender goes up against Julie Baker (far left) and
Maggie Mathias of Team USA (Photo by Jesse Weisz).