Elena ready to make her mark on world stage
KYLIAN Mbappe took the football World Cup by storm at the age of 19. 20-year old Elena Tice now wants to leave her mark on the women’s hockey world cup which begins on Saturday.
The Glenealy woman has already amassed 58 caps for Ireland but caps 59, 60 and 61 will determine whether the Girls in Green can have a succesful campaign or not.
On Saturday, Ireland take on USA. Thursday week (July 26th) sees them get to grips with India and they’ll finish off the group stage - but hopefully not their campaign - against hosts England on Sunday week (July 29th).
For former St. Gerard’s student Tice, a mixture of nerves and excitement are currently occupying her stomach but Ireland aren’t making the short journey over the water to make up the numbers.
“The excitement is really building now. Obviously there are some nerves but I just want to get out and play at this point. The hard work has been done. It will be a dream come true stepping out on the pitch on Saturday, but a good result is so important.
“So in our group England are ranked #2, USA are ranked #7 and India are #10. So it’s a tough group for sure but we are looking forward to the challenge!
“We will go in to every game trying to win. We have huge belief in our squad and know that we are capable of beating each team in our group on our day.
“However, we will be looking to target the India and USA game more so than the England game. So yes, the goal is to get out of our group and into a play-off or quarter final. So we know we likely need at least one win to achieve that.”
A top-two finish will propel Ireland straight to a quarter-final whereas third spot will see them enter a play-off for the last eighth. Tice and co. will be hoping to have secured a top three spot by the time they tackle the hosts but it should be a memorable day for England-born Tice.
“Our goal is to go out and take every game one at a time and perform to the best of our ability in each one.
“We want to get out of our group and of course we would want to progress further than that too. But we don’t look too far ahead, just take it game by game and focus on doing our job.
“I was born in England and do have quite a bit of family based over there. A lot of them will be at the games which will be very special.
“I certainly hope they will be supporting green when we play England, otherwise there will be some serious words had! But it will be amazing to have so many family members and friends there with me on such a special occasion.”