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Team USA Falls to Canada, 4-1, in Series Opener

08/22/2013, 9:15pm MDT
By USAHockey.com

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. -- The U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team was defeated by Canada, 4-1, here today in the first of three games between the two teams at the 2013 Women's Under-18 Series.

"We got outworked at times today and that was the difference against a hungry and well-prepared opponent," said head coach Jeff Kampersal. "We'll address some things we can improve and will bring a better effort tomorrow in what's sure to be a great game."

A closely contested first period heated up during the final minute of the frame with Canada taking a 1-0 lead at 19:25 on a goal by Kerly Heffernan. Taylar Cianfarano (Oswego, N.Y.) responded just 17 seconds later, poking the puck away from a defender and firing a shot over the shoulder of Canadian goaltender Shea Tiley to tie the game heading into the intermission.

Canada pulled ahead at 5:18 of the second period when Victoria Bach received a long outlet pass and broke in alone, tucking the puck past U.S. netminder Erin O'Neil (Minnetonka, Minn.). Despite outshooting Canada, 12-6, the period ended with Canada ahead by a 2-1 count.

At 5:49 of the third period, the visitors extended their lead to 3-1 on a power-play goal by Hannah Miller. Heffernan added an empty-net goal, her second of the game, at 17:15 to round out the scoring.

The series resumes tomorrow (Aug. 23) at 4:00 p.m. EDT at the Olympic Center's 1980 Herb Brooks Arena, with the third and final game set for Saturday (Aug. 25) at 10:00 a.m. Both games will be carried live by FASTHockey at usahockey.fasthockey.com.

NOTES: The Under-18 Series is a three-game competition vs. Canada that began in 2007 ... The 22 players on the U.S. roster hail from 10 states, with Minnesota's seven representatives leading the group ... Follow the Under-18 Series on Twitter at @USAHockeyScores using #U18Series ... Reagan Carey (Colorado Springs, Colo.), USA Hockey's director of women's hockey, is serving as the general manager of Team USA at the 2013 Under-18 Series against Canada and the 2014 IIHF Women's Under-18 World Championship ... Jeff Kampersal (Pennington, N.J.), head women's ice hockey coach at Princeton University, is the head coach of the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team for the 2013-14 season ... The assistant coaches are Courtney Kennedy (Somerville, Mass.), associate women's ice hockey coach at Boston College and Katie Lachapelle (Winthrop, Mass.), assistant women's ice hockey coach at Boston University.

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