The Australian women’s hockey team fell to its second consecutive defeat in Brazil, going down 2-1 to the USA, after also losing 2-1 to GB in their opening game.
The US made the breakthrough in the second period, with Michelle Vittese scoring the first point of the match from a penalty corner.
It started to unravel for Australia in the third period as Georgie Parker received a 10-minute yellow card for a deliberate foul, leaving only ten players on the field. The Australians managed to save the corner, but the US kept the ball in play and scored to put the Americans 2-0 up.
A minute later the Aussies were reduced to nine players when captain Madonna Blyth received a five-minute yellow card.
But losing the skipper kick started Australia's momentum and a fast break set up Kathryn Slattery for a goal at 42 minutes to bring the score to 2-1.
Despite frantic attempts in the last period, the Australians were unable to score the equaliser.
