BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Former Indiana University star Shae Fournier (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Grant Park) notched her second hat-trick in as many games as Canada suffered a 17-11 loss to the Russian Federation in both teams’ second game at Taipei Songshan Sports Center in Taipei City, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) during the 29th Summer Universiade/University Games.
Fournier, who posted a hat-trick in a 15-4 defeat of New Zealand to open the tournament on Friday, August 18, was unable to balance out a hot-start by the Russians as Canada fell behind 4-2 in the first quarter. Following a 4-3 deficit in the second quarter to trail 8-5 at halftime, the Canadians saw their comeback hopes dashed in the third quarter with a 4-1 surge by the Russians to trail 12-6 going into the final quarter of action. Russia kept Canada in check over the remaining minutes of the game as both teams netted five markers in the final frame for the 17-11 final score.
Fournier, who also added a steal in the game, shot three-for-eight as she connected on two-of-three action shots, went one-for-three on man-up opportunities and missed on both chances from five-meters out. As a team, Canada shot 11-for-30 with only one of the team’s goals coming off an assist.
Current Hoosiers’ player Kelly Matthews (Sr., Roxboro, Quebec, Canada/St. Thomas) did not score or post a statistic of note in the span of 10:06 in the field for Canada.
Through two games, Fournier now has six goals, one assist and one steal in 36:02, while Matthews has a goal and a field block in 22:30 of action.
Canada is competing in Pool A for the event against Russia, Hungary, Japan, Great Britain and New Zealand. Action continues later in the week against Hungary (Tuesday, August 22), Japan (Thursday, August 24) and Great Britain (Friday, August 25) prior to the Quarterfinal (Saturday, August 26), Semifinal (Sunday, August 27) and Championship (Tuesday, August 29) rounds.
