CALGARY, Alberta – Annie Pankowski (Laguna Hills, Calif.) tallied two points, but the U.S. Women’s Under-22 Select Team fell to Canada, 4-3, here tonight at the Markin MacPhail Centre in Calgary, Alberta.
“I was happy with our effort tonight and thought we improved our play from game one and deserved better fate,” said Bob Deraney, head coach of the 2016 U.S. Women’s Under-22 Select Team. “We’ll look to build off that momentum and have our best game tomorrow.”
Pankowski gave Team USA a 1-0 lead with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle 4:16 into the opening period, but Canada responded with a pair of goals just 2:47 apart by Sarah Potomak and Jane Downie-Landry to gain a 2-1 lead.
Gracen Hirschy (Fort Wayne, Ind.) evened the score for the U.S. at 5:09 of the second period. Hisrchy collected a loose puck in front of the Canada goal and fired a shot past goaltender Stephanie Neatby. Just 3:59 later, Alex Woken (Fargo, N.D.) collected a pass from Pankowski and beat Neatby with a wrist shot from top of the right circle to give Team USA a 3-2 lead. Emily Clark scored in the final minute for Canada to tie the game, 3-3, after two periods.
Sarah Nurse netted the game-winner for Canada at 11:59 of the final period.
Taylar Cianfarano (Oswego, N.Y.), Makenna Newkirk (Scottsdale, Ariz.), Kelly Pannek (Plymouth, Mich.) and Megan Keller (Farmington, Mich.) also tallied assists for Team USA.
Brittany Bugalski (Lake Worth, Fla.) made 20 saves for the U.S.
Team USA and Canada will meet in the final game of the Under-22 Series tomorrow (Aug. 20) at 6 p.m. ET.
NOTES: The U.S. outshot Canada 29-24 in the contest … The U.S. Women’s Under-22 Select Team was chosen from the USA Hockey Women’s National Festival that took place Aug. 8-12 in Lake Placid, New York … The three-game series vs. Canada is an annual event between the two countries held 12 times since 1999 … All games from the series are being streamed live and are available at hockeycanada.ca … Follow @USAHockeyScores on Twitter for live scoring updates with the #U22Series hashtag .