HOCKEY: Georgie Parker’s late goal secured a point as the Hockeyroos got their title defence underway with a 1-1 draw against Japan at the Hawke’s Bay Cup in Hastings, New Zealand.
Despite their clear dominance for large spells of the match, Australia’s women found themselves behind for much of the contest after Mie Nakashima lifted the ball over goalkeeper Ashlee Wells to open the scoring in the 13th minute.
The Hockeyroos created the bulk of the chances with Japan most dangerous in the opening period when they broke quickly on the counter attack.
“We were a little slow to start and I thought Japan played well in the first quarter but once we got into the game we played well for the next three quarters and created plenty of chances. Japan scrambled at times and cleared a couple of our chances off the line,” said Hockeyroos coach Adam Commens.
“It was a good start. I thought they struggled to get out of our press but we can still improve how we play against packed defences and control their counter attacks.
"This group hasn’t played a lot of hockey together; we rotated our players against GB recently, so I think we’ll continue to improve game by game."
Looking ahead to Sunday’s match against Korea, Commens added, “Korea will be fired up after losing to Canada today and I anticipate a really good match.”
Prior to Parker’s 53rd minute strike, Jodie Kenny came close during a series of third-quarter penalty corners, all of which were expertly denied by the acrobatic goalkeeping of Sakiyo Asano. Asano’s defensive colleagues did well to scramble clear the resulting danger.
With the game entering its final stages and the Japanese defence retreating deeper, it was the close skill of Emily Smith that created the opening in the circle for the Hockeyroos’ equaliser. Smith collided with Asano as the latter came to meet her and the ball broke to Parker, whose first time shot found the backboard.
ACT defender Eddie Bone made her 100th appearance for the Hockeyroos in the match. The 27 year-old made her senior international debut less than three years ago, against Korea in Perth in April 2013.
The Hockeyroos’ second Pool A fixture is against Korea at 11am AEST on Sunday. The Koreans went down to Canada in the opening match of the tournament.
Results & Fixtures, today
Canada 2-1 Korea
Australia 1-1 Japan
New Zealand - India
China - Ireland
Standings, Hawke's Bay Cup
Pool A
1. Canada (3 points)
2. Australia (1 point)
3. Japan (1 point)
4. Korea (0 points)
Pool B
Matches to be played later today.
Hockeyroos’ squad v Japan, Hawke's Bay Cup
Started
Madonna Blyth (Brisbane, QLD) 325/70
Anna Flanagan (Canberra, ACT) 161/34
Jodie Kenny (Wamuran, QLD) 165/93
Karri McMahon (Berri, SA) 89/9
Georgina Morgan (Armidale, NSW) 31/5
Georgie Parker (Berri, SA) 92/28
Brooke Peris (Darwin, NT) 80/13
Kathryn Slattery (South Stirling, WA) 41/11
Emily Smith (Crookwell, NSW) 143/59
Ashlee Wells (Moe, VIC) 70/0
Mariah Williams (Parkes, NSW) 39/5
Used Substitute
Edwina Bone (Evatt, ACT) 100/2
Jane Claxton (Adelaide, SA) 87/9
Ashleigh Nelson (Wagin, WA) 201/68
Casey Sablowski (South Coast, NSW) 237/44
Grace Stewart (Gerringong, NSW) 8/2
Unused Substitute
Rachael Lynch (Melbourne, VIC) 142/0
Gabrielle Nance (Kingscliff, NSW) [SASI] 25/2
Hockeryroos’ Hawke’s Bay Cup fixtures
Sunday 3 April – Hockeyroos v Korea – 11am AEST / 9am AWST
Tuesday 5 April – Hockeyroos v Canada – 12pm AEST / 10am AWST
Thursday 7 April – Quarter Finals
Saturday 9 April – Semi Finals
Sunday 10 April - Finals
Hockey Australia
