Canadian men's field hockey team drops 2nd in a row with loss to Great Britain in Tokyo
Canada will next face the Netherlands Tuesday
Canada's men's field hockey team lost its second straight match, falling to Great Britain 3-1 on Monday in Tokyo.
Coming off a loss against Germany, the Canadians struggled to generate much offence, failing to get a shot on net until the fourth quarter.
Canada's defence was better, holding Great Britain scoreless in the first half. Great Britain missed on three first-quarter penalty shots, and Sam Ward shot off the post in the second quarter.
"[Great Britain] doesn't give you any mistakes. You have to work super hard to break them down," Vancouver native Mark Pearson said. "We knew it was going to be a fight."
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For all the missed chances there were, Great Britain made up when substitute Liam Ansell scored his second of the tournament less than three minutes into the second half.
Great Britain continued applying pressure throughout the quarter and eight minutes later, Ward scored his second of the tournament on a penalty corner to go up 2-0.
In the fourth, Great Britain almost pushed its lead to 3-0 with another penalty corner goal but it was waved off by officials following the initial shot ricocheting off a Canadian player's stick.
Vancouver's Floris van Son scored to cut the deficit to one before Ansell notched his second of the match to give Great Britain a 3-1 lead.
"We said to each other, 'First we have to score one, then we can think about a second,'" van Son said. "I was in the right spot at the right time. It feels special to score one [on the Olympic stage], but I would trade that for three points and a win."
Canada will next face the Netherlands on Tuesday.
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