The South African women's hockey team finished their final preliminary match at the London Olympics on an emphatic note with a 7-0 victory over the United States on their final pool B match on Monday.

The women will now go into a play-off match for ninth and 10th place with the opposition yet to be confirmed.

The South Africans could finish their campaign off as the best Olympics yet if they manage a second victory in the global showpiece.

It was the team's first victory at the Games after they had suffered four defeats against Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and Germany.

While it was a markedly improved performance from the other matches, the US did not offer too much resistance.

The South Africans nevertheless staved off the embarrassment of finishing at the bottom of their pool.

SA were in an unforgiving mood as they led the US women 4-0 at the half-time break and almost doubled the score in the second half with three goals.

The SA women's defence stood firm and denied the Americans any attempts to score a consolation goal.

Tarryn Bright was the first to get on the scoresheet from a penalty corner in the 14th minute.

The women almost scored in intervals of five minutes, with Leslie-Ann George adding a field goal on the 20 minute mark to take the scores to 2-0.

Jen Wilson added her name on the scoresheet when she slotted the ball into the backboards four minutes later.

South Africa's most prolific goalscorer Pietie Coetze, took advantage of a penalty corner shortly before the half-time break to extend their lead to 4-0.

In the previous matches the SA women struggled to get into the circle, but turned the corner against the US.

While they had 10 penalty corner opportunities they only managed to convert four of them.

They nevertheless scored when it counted and continued their relentless attack on the US goal with Bright scoring her second goal of the match in the 43rd minute.

They, however, found more resistance from the Americans but not enough to stop the South Africans completely.

Dirkie Chamberlain scored their sixth goal with 16 minutes left on the clock from a penalty corner.

Coetzee finished the match off with a low flick to the right of the US goalkeeper for her second goal of the game.

While the scoreline may suggest that it was one-way traffic, the South Africans made a number of good saves to stave off the US.