HOCKEY: The Australian women's hockey team have taken out their first win of the four nations Hawkes Bay Cup in Hastings, New Zealand, with a 2 -1 defeat of Japan yesterday afternoon.
It was a cracker of a first quarter for the Hockeyroos as they scored two field goals within minutes of one another. The first went to Jordyn Holzberger in the 9th minute of play, the second to Madi Radcliffe in the 11th.
The strong beginning to the game for the Aussies was hindered by the Japanese defence, as the next two quarters went without goals as both teams pressed forward without any luck.
The final quarter saw Japan get their first goal of the match, forcing a penalty corner opportunity which was converted by Hazuki Yuda in the 46th minute of play.
Hockeyroos head coach Paul Gaudoin said: “We had a really good first half today, we applied ourselves as we wanted to and we got the rewards from that with two goals.
“We struggled a little bit in the second half, but that will be a good half of learning for some of our younger group to improve upon going into our next game against the USA tomorrow.”
Australia drew 1-all in their first two games of the competition on the weekend, against USA and New Zealand.
Hockeyroos Match Schedule
Tuesday 4 April: AUS v USA 4pm NZST / 2pm AEST / 12pm AWST
Thursday 6 April: AUS v NZL 5.30pm NZST / 3.30pm AEST / 1.30pm AWST
Saturday 8 April: AUS v JPN 3pm NZST / 1pm AEST / 11am AWST
Sunday 9: Finals
