HOCKEY: The USA have defeated Australia in a sudden death shoot-out at the Champions Trophy after the Hockeyroos held the lead for the majority of the game; with USA captain Melissa Gonzalez scoring the winning goal for her team.
The first quarter began with a fight for possession of the ball, with it travelling up and down the pitch before remaining with the Hockeyroos for the majority of the term. The Hockeyroos made the first chance on a penalty corner, but it went just wide missing the net.
The Hockeyroos were all over the ball making USA goalkeeper Jackie Briggs work hard in the last three minutes of the quarter with a number of attempts on field goals.
In the final minute of the quarter Mariah Williams came through with the goods, scoring a field goal for Australia in her 50th game for the team, and leaving the Hockeyroos with a 1 – nil lead going into the quarter time break.
Two minutes into the second term and the Hockeyroos were up for another penalty corner. Casey Sablowski injected, Emily Smith trapped and Jodie Kenny went for the goal but it just missed the target.
Kathleen Sharkey broke free from the Hockeyroos and stormed into the USA circle, flying the ball at the net with Australian goalkeeper Rachael Lynch making the job of knocking the ball away look easy during her 150th cap for the Hockeyroos.
With three minutes left on the clock before half time, the USA was up for a penalty corner. The goal was easily defended with Jodie Kenny flicking it straight back down to the waiting Hockeyroos.
USA player Katie Bam was sent off with a ten minute yellow card two minutes before the end of the second half for a tackle that sent Hockeyroos Captain Madonna Blyth flying across the pitch.
Going into the third quarter and Australia maintained the 1 – nil lead over the USA. Slattery went for a diving goal after a deflection from Casey Sablowski and just missed the mark on what would have been a spectacular goal.
The ball travelled through the midfield with passes between Casey Sablowski and Mariah Williams, before ending up with Grace Stewart who sprinted it into the circle and sent it straight into goal.
Six minutes remaining in the third term and the USA had a double chance on penalty corner. The Hockeyroos were having none of it and successfully defend both attempts. With five minutes to go they had another chance after an obstruction in the circle, but Australia were defending in numbers.
The ball went flying down to Jane Claxton in the midfield who passed to Georgie Parker who went in for her trademark tomahawk, which narrowly missed the net.
Forty-two minutes into the game and the USA finally made their mark on the score board with a penalty corner from Katie Bam sailing into the net.
The final quarter began with the Hockeyroos out in the lead. A double penalty corner opportunity a few minutes in was missed, and the teams were both desperate to gain control of the ball.
The USA were up for a penalty corner five minutes in. The first opportunity was quickly succeeded by a second and third, and with Australia determined to hold onto the lead the chances remained unconverted. Minutes of scrambling for the ball followed, with Kirsten Dwyer given a five minute yellow card.
The USA sprinted the ball down to their scoring circle, and Rachael Lynch flew out of the net to knock the ball out of range. With only minutes on the clock, Katie Bam managed to get one past the keeper, knocking a field goal into the net and levelling the score at 2 – 2.
At full time the score remained tied at 2 all, with the bronze medal to be decided by a shoot-out.
The shoot-out saw only one goal, and one was enough with USA captain Melissa Gonzalez scoring the first and only goal for the shoot-out, giving the USA the bronze and relegating Australia to fourth position.
Hockeyroos Head Coach Adam Commens said: “It’s a disappointing result for us. I thought we dominated the game for the first three quarters, and then our last quarter was poor. We started making decisions that we hadn’t been making all game, people not presenting for the ball and we went away from the objectives that we had for the game.
“I think that the frustrating thing about it is that you put in a great performance, and then you let a team into it. I’ve something that I’ve spoken about throughout this tournament that we need to be better at and today unfortunately we weren’t as clinical as I would have liked in that last quarter.”
Earlier in the day Great Britain took out their first win of the competition to finish in fifth position ahead of New Zealand. Argentina and the Netherlands will compete for the gold and silver medal positions later this evening.
For full coverage on today’s games visit: http://www.fih.ch/news/
Results today
GBR 4 – 3 NZL
AUS 2 – 2 USA (0 – 1, SO)
ARG - NED
Hockeyroos’ squad v USA
Madonna Blyth (Brisbane, QLD) 336/70
Jane Claxton (Adelaide, SA) 102/9
Jodie Kenny (Wamuran, QLD) 180/98
Rachael Lynch (Warrandyte, VIC) 150/0
Karri McMahon (Berri, SA) 104/9
Georgina Morgan (Armidale, NSW) 46/8
Georgie Parker (Berri, SA), 102/32
Brooke Peris (Darwin, NT) 95/13
Casey Sablowski (Albion Park, NSW) 252/44
Kathryn Slattery (South Stirling, WA) 56/17
Emily Smith (Crookwell, NSW) 157/63
Used Substitute
Edwina Bone (Evatt, ACT) 115/2
Kirsten Dwyer (Mackay, QLD) 108/2
Georgia Nanscawen (Melbourne, VIC) 183/35
Grace Stewart (Gerringong, NSW) 22/10
Mariah Williams (Parkes, NSW) 50/6
Unused Substitute
Gabrielle Nance (Kingscliff, SA) 36/2
Ashlee Wells (Morwell, VIC) 77/0
Hockey Australia
