Belgium 7, Ghana 0

It was the Stephanie De Groof show today in Cape Town in the early game between Belgium and Ghana. The strong drag flicker put in an amazing four penalty corner goals in Belgium’s 7-0 victory against Ghana.

The win keeps the Belgians in the hunt for a qualification spot to the Hockey World League Semi-Finals in June. Meanwhile, Ghana goes home from the tournament with four losses in as many games.

De Groof got two of her four goals in the 15 minutes of action to give Belgium the early 2-0 lead. But the Belgians really broke things open in the last 10 minutes of the first half when they poured in another four unanswered goals to claim a hefty 6-0 lead at the break. Alix Gerniers, Erica Coppey and Helene Delmee all scored in the flurry of activity. As icing on the cake, De Groof completed the hat trick on a penalty corner goal after time expired in the half.

Ghana had no chance in the second half, but fortunately goaltender Grace Mensah was solid in net and kept things from getting ugly. She held the Belgians scoreless, despite multiple chances, until De Groof put in her fourth goal with 10 minutes left in the game. It would be the only goal that the Belgians would score in the half as they earned the second-most lopsided win of the tournament.

Belgium and Azerbaijan will play the key game of the tournament tomorrow afternoon. Both teams currently have two wins.