Team USA women’s field hockey obtains quota for Paris Olympics after hard-fought victory over Japan

Team USA’s United Eagles women's hockey team have secured a spot at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

Having dominated the pool games at the FIH Women’s Hockey Olympic Qualifiers, the American women pulled off three back-to-back shutouts without a single goal against them to qualify for the semifinals and have an opportunity to claim their berths in Paris.

Today, they did just that by defeating Japan 2-1 to advance to the gold medal match.

Their winning streak was at stake when Japan found the net in the third quarter, scoring the first goal against the U.S. all tournament to lead 1-0 going into the fourth quarter, but the Eagles’ Ashley Hoffman made sure it wasn’t for long and equalized the game seven minutes into the fourth.

With just the gold medal match remaining in Ranchi, India, the pressure is off for the Eagles as they will land on the podium and officially secure a spot, regardless of the outcome of the final game on Friday.

For the gold, they will play Germany, who beat India 4-3 in overtime.

Tournament Recap

The Eagles kicked off the tournament with a shock win against No. 6-ranked India, who beat the U.S. in the American’s last chance to qualify for Tokyo, knocking them out of the last Summer Games.

For their second pool game, they went on to play Italy, and with their impenetrable defense, took another shutout win with a final score of 2-0. To qualify for the semis, they needed one more upset against No. 11 New Zealand, and did just that, even with the Black Sticks’ last ditch effort to pull their keeper for another field player.

United Eagles’ Olympic History

With just one podium finish at the Olympics 40 years ago for the United Eagles, the American women look ready to climb back to the top.

They failed to qualify for the last summer Games in Tokyo after a 6-5 loss to India at their last qualification opportunity, so will be making an appearance on the Olympic stage for the first time since 2016, where the team placed fifth.

A 16-player roster with up to three alternates will be announced for Paris, and it is likely that there will be no athletes with Olympic experience.