HOCKEY: Australia’s Hockeyroos will face the Netherlands in the final of the World League tournament in Tucumán following both sides’ semi-final victories. The Dutch, the Olympic champions, progressed to the grand final at the expense of hosts Argentina, winning through on a shoot-out following a 2-2 draw.
HOCKEY: Australia’s Hockeyroos will face the Netherlands in the final of the World League tournament in Tucumán following both sides’ semi-final victories. The Dutch, the Olympic champions, progressed to the grand final at the expense of hosts Argentina, winning through on a shoot-out following a 2-2 draw.
The Hockeyroos will be going for gold at the World League Finals after a stunning 3-0 win over rivals England in their semi-final. It was a confident performance from the Hockeyroos in the match dubbed “hockey’s ashes” with Jodie Schulz, Georgie Parker and Karri McMahon all finding the back of the net in a period of less than ten minutes either side of half time.
Australia dominated the match and found themselves denied a much greater margin of victory by English goalkeeper Maddie Hinch, who thwarted, amongst others, Ashleigh Nelson on three first-half occasions.
The Hockeyroos will face the winner of the second semi-final between the Netherlands and Argentina at 9pm local time on Sunday evening, 11am AEDT / 8am AWST on Monday morning.
Hockeyroos Head Coach Adam Commens called it “a very satisfying win”, adding, “We were really clinical and it was probably our best performance of the tournament. We played well; the girls stuck to our game plan and made good decisions, both on and off the ball.
Australia’s women have reached the final in each of their last three major competitions, emerging as the winners of the Oceania Cup, Investec World League semi-final tournament and Champions Challenge. Commens added, “It’s important to play in finals hockey and the World League final will be another challenge. This is our fourth final in the last four tournaments and is good preparation for next year’s World Cup.”
After taking the lead shortly before half time and despite scoring twice in a lightning quick start to the second period, the Sydney Olympic bronze medal winner said there had been no special instructions at half time. “We didn’t say anything special. We talked about what we expected from England in the second half and what we wanted to do at penalty corners but the main message was if we continue to create enough chances then more goals would come,” said Commens.
A dominant opening half hour had failed to reward the Hockeyroos’ persistence. When it came, Queenslander Jodie Schulz’s opening goal just three minutes before half time was well deserved but came in controversial circumstances. As Australia celebrated England appealed to the video umpire citing a telling deflection off the body of Teneal Attard on its route to goal. Replays appeared to show the possibility that the ball had deviated as it went past Attard but the goal was given and Australia led 1-0 at the break.
But it was the Hockeyroos’ blistering start to the second half that rocked England. With Ashleigh Nelson, Georgie Parker, Madonna Blyth and Emily Smith all involved, Australia pressed England deep inside their defensive circle and as England failed to clear their lines Georgie Parker forced the ball home to double the Hockeyroos’ advantage.
Just four minutes later it was 3-0. Karri McMahon had yet to have a sighter at goal all tournament but it didn’t seem to matter as the South Australian defender fired an unstoppable drag flick into the far corner of the net from a penalty corner.
With the Hockeyroos three goals up goalkeeper Rachael Lynch was called upon to make several saves, including a top drawer gloved save from Alex Danson’s superb tomahawk, but she and her defence were equal to everything thrown at them.
A flurry of green and yellow cards left the Hockeyroos with ten players at times late on and there was some concern for Victorian Claire Messent who left the field with a bleeding nose late on but Australia marched on to claim their place in the final.
The final will take place at 9pm local time in Tucumán on Sunday evening, which is 11am AEDT / 8am AWST on Monday morning in Australia.
The match will be shown live online at www.youtube.com/fihockey with ABC 1 showing it in its entirely on a same-day-delay at 10:40pm on Monday night.
QUARTER FINAL
The Australian women's hockey team are through to the semi-final of the World League after a dramatic shoot-out victory over European Champions Germany in searing heat in Tucuman, Argentina.
The nail-biting finish saw Madonna Blyth, Kellie White, Georgie Parker and Claire Messent all hold their nerve to score the Hockeyroos’ first four shoot-out attempts with goalkeeper Rachael Lynch proving her expertise between the posts with two fine saves. The match went down to the wire after a 1-1 draw in regulation time.
Victory assures the Hockeyroos of a shot at the medals with a semi-final against England confirmed after they later beat China in their quarter-final.
Immediately after the match, Head Coach Adam Commens called the shoot-out “exciting”, adding “We prepared well for the shoot-out. We spend quite a bit of time practising them and each of the girls has their own plan that they work on.”
Speaking about the game, Commens said, “It was an interesting match. Germany defended doggedly. They had a strategy to close down our counter attack and we weren’t as clinical today as we have been in our previous matches but we’ll take it as a learning experience.
“We had enough opportunities to win the game but we weren’t clinical in our set-pieces. We’ve scored penalty corners in our last two games and were confident they would work today but they didn’t quite come off.”
Securing a place in the final four continues the team’s streak of contesting the medals in every competition since the London Olympic Games and Commens is pleased with the upward trajectory of the team.
“We’ve got a good young group of players coming through from the junior ranks and we’re confident of building the group well towards Rio in 2016,” he added.
The Hockeyroos enjoyed the best of action but were denied on a number of occasions by German goalkeeper Barbara Vogel, including a double save in the final five minutes of the match.
Eileen Hoffmann gave the European Champions the lead in the 11th minute when she stole in at the back post to touch home Lea Stockel’s pass from the top of the circle but Ashleigh Nelson rifled home a deserved equaliser midway through the second half. It was Nelson’s 60th goal for the Hockeyroos.
Goalkeeper Rachael Lynch kept the Hockeyroos in contention with a number of blocks early in the second half with Australia trailing 1-0 and they were to prove important as Western Australia Nelson lashed home from around the penalty spot after good built-up play from Claire Messent and Emily Smith.
The goal sparked a surge of Australian pressure but with the German defence holding firm the match went to the lottery of the shoot-out. Hockeyroos captain Madonna Blyth was coolness personified with her opening effort and after Lynch saved Germany’s first, from Julie Muller, Australia always held the upper hand.
Kellie White’s low tomahawk under the goalkeeper, Georgie Parker’s uncompromising effort and Claire Messent’s bobbling teaser kept the Hockeyroos ahead until Lynch raced off her line to intercept Lea Stockel before the German could shape to shoot. The save sparked celebratory scenes reminiscent of the Hockeyroos’ shoot-out victory over New Zealand in last month’s Oceania Cup final.
The Hockeyroos will now face England on Saturday evening (Sunday morning Australian time). The match is currently scheduled for 9:00pm local time in Tucuman, 11:00am AEDT / 8:00am AWST Sunday morning, but may be moved forward to 6:30pm local time (8:30am AEDT Sunday / 5:30am AWST Sunday) following the conclusion of the quarter-finals.
In the first match of the day, the Olympic Champions the Netherlands ran out narrow 1-0 winners over the New Zealand Black Sticks.
HOCKEYROOS 1 (1)*
Ashleigh Nelson 48 (F)
GERMANY 1 (1)
Eileen Hoffmann 11 (F)
*Hockeyroos win 4-2 on shoot-out
SHOOT-OUT
AUS: Madonna Blyth – goal
GER: Julia Muller – no goal (saved Lynch)
AUS: Kellie White – goal
GER: Marie Mavers – goal
AUS: Georgie Parker – goal
GER: Jana Teschke – goal
AUS: Claire Messent – goal
GER: Lea Stockel – no goal (saved Lynch)
Quarter-Final Fixtures & Results
QF1: Netherlands 1-0 New Zealand
QF4: Australia 1-1 Germany (AUS win 4-2 on shoot-out)
QF3: England v China
QF2: Argentina v Korea
Pool Standings
Pool A
1. Netherlands 9 pts (3 matches)
2. England 6 pts (3 matches)
3. Korea 1 pt (3 matches)
4. Germany 1 pt (3 matches)
Pool B
1. Australia 7 pts (3 matches)
2. Argentina 7 pts (3 matches)
3. China 3 pts (3 matches)
4. New Zealand 0 pts (3 matches)
Hockey Australia