The USA Women’s team hosted Canada and Handball Club Intrepide from Guadaloupe from 17-20 December. Handball Club Intrepide managed to go 3-0-1 with wins against both U.S. sides and a draw and a win against Canada. The USA Blue team was the best national side with come from behind wins over both Canadian teams and a narrow loss to Intrepide.
Here are the results of the 8 games played
| Wednesday, 17 Dec | ||||
| Canada White | USA Blue | 14-18 | ||
| Canada Red | Guadaloupe | 24-24 | (Canada won penalties 4-3) | |
| Thursday, 18 Dec | ||||
| Guadaloupe | USA Blue | 24-23 | ||
| Canada White | USA Red | 25-20 | ||
| Friday, 19 Dec | ||||
| Canada Red | USA Red | 24-14 | ||
| Canada White | Guadaloupe | 14-27 | ||
| Saturday, 20 Dec | ||||
| Guadaloupe | USA Red | 23-14 | ||
| Canada Red | USA Blue | 20-24 | ||
As there were no USA-USA or Canada-Canada matches a full round robin was not played. As such, Guadaloupe was the only team that played 4 matches. Here is a table, keeping in mind that caveat.
| All Matches | W | L | D | Pts | GF | GA | GD |
| Guadaloupe | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 98 | 75 | 23 |
| USA Blue | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 65 | 58 | 7 |
| Canada Red | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 68 | 62 | 6 |
| Canada White | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 53 | 65 | -12 |
| USA Red | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 72 | -24 |
Here’s the results just looking at USA vs Canada matches
| USA-Canada Matches | W | L | D | Pts | GF | GA | GD |
| USA Blue | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 42 | 34 | 8 |
| Canada Red | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 44 | 38 | 6 |
| Canada White | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 39 | 38 | 1 |
| USA Red | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 49 | -15 |
Finally, while a full round robin was not played it is possible to break down the matches into four, mini tournaments in which each side did play head to head. Here are those results.
| Tourney 1 | W | L | D | Pts | GF | GA | GD |
| Guadaloupe | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 48 | 47 | 1 |
| USA Blue | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 47 | 44 | 3 |
| Canada Red | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 44 | 48 | -4 |
| Tourney 2 | W | L | D | Pts | GF | GA | GD |
| Canada Red | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 48 | 38 | 10 |
| Guadaloupe | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 47 | 38 | 9 |
| USA Red | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 47 | -19 |
| Tourney 3 | W | L | D | Pts | GF | GA | GD |
| Guadaloupe | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 51 | 37 | 14 |
| USA Blue | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 41 | 38 | 3 |
| Canada White | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 45 | -17 |
| Tourney 4 | W | L | D | Pts | GF | GA | GD |
| Guadaloupe | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 50 | 28 | 22 |
| Canada White | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 39 | 47 | -8 |
| USA Red | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 48 | -14 |
Some Brief Analysis: Having not seen the matches I can only infer a few things from the score lines and Federation write ups. First off, it was good for the USA first team to get two wins over the Canadian sides. Perhaps, a bit disappointing that they trailed both games at the half, but a win is a win. The close loss to club Intrepide, however, is a disappointment as the U.S. defeated Intrepide in Guadaloupe this past August 30-22. Perhaps, though, it illustrates the lack of regular competition problem inherent with a residency program. When the U.S beat Intrepide it was just prior to the start of their season and I suspect that the club players were a bit rusty. Now that their season is in full swing the rust has likely worn off with regular weekly competition. It’s hard to say, but there’s probably more to that logic than the U.S. regressing that much since August. Perhaps, not coincidentally the leading scorer for the U.S. was Kathy Darling who is also playing matches on a regular basis for Le Pouzin in the French 3rd Division, a level of play that is probably comparable to the regional Guadaloupe league. (More on Club Intrepide and how the U.S. might want to emulate their grass roots program: Link)
Overall, it’s just another data point along the way to a critical 2 game, home and home series the women will play in March against Uruguay to qualify for the PANAM Games. That’s right, just like the Euros, Uruguay will first play a match at Auburn on the weekend of 5-9 March. Then, the U.S. will travel to Montevideo the following weekend. The winner on aggregate goals for both matches will advance. PATHF Announcement: Link