HOCKEY: Another four goal haul from Jodie Kenny helped the Hockeyroos to a 4-2 victory over India in their final Pool B match at the Hockey World League, setting up a quarter final clash with Italy on Tuesday, who finished in third place in Pool A.
Kenny’s early penalty corner double either side of Vandana Katariya’s fifth minute equaliser set the tone for a pulsating game that twice saw India’s Eves battle back to draw level, only for the Hockeyroos to respond immediately.
Poonam Rani’s scrambled equaliser shortly after half time made it 2-2 but less than 60 seconds later Kenny completed her hat-trick of penalty corner flicks to put Australia’s women back in front.
The Queensland defender’s fourth goal came from the penalty spot on the stroke of three-quarter time after Brooke Peris was wiped out by Indian goalkeeper Ranjani Etimarpu with the Hockeyroos awarded a penalty stroke on appeal to the video umpire.
Speaking afterwards, Hockeyroos Head Coach Adam Commens said, “I thought we started off really sharply and we looked pretty good and then our second quarter was a bit average and we let them back in the game.
“One of the things that we’ve been doing over the last three months is working on a number of different game plans that we think will make us a better team in 14 months when we get to the Olympic Games.
“You see the transition from when we’re in ball possession to when we’re defending is probably not as tight as it once was. It’s something that we’re working hard on and we believe it will make us a better team in the long term.
“In this tournament we need to get the job done but to grow and be a gold medal winning team we need to have multiple ways of play and I’ve been really proud of how the girls have been able to adapt and bring in that way of play when we’ve got the ball. Now we just need to tidy up when we lose it.”
Looking ahead to Tuesday’s quarter final clash against world number 16, Italy, Commens said, “Italy are a team that before today, where against the Netherlands they were dismantled quite easily, looked really sharp. A draw against Korea, a draw against Japan, they came third in that pool for a reason, because they’re a quality side.
“They’ve got some experienced players and they’re pretty sound technically and tactically. We’ll need to be on our game and take our opportunities, otherwise you get in a real tooth and nail struggle and that’s something that you don’t want to get in with teams like Italy.”
Responding to as question on whether the Hockeyroos may be seen as relying too heavily on the penalty corner prowess of Kenny, who has now scored nine goals in four games, he added, “We have always complained in Australia we don’t have penalty corner specialists and now we have one we talk about our inability to score field goals. As a coach I would love for us to do both and we’ve demonstrated in the past that we can do it.
“At the Commonwealth Games we had Georgie Parker score seven field goals, at the Champions Trophy we had Emily Smith as one of the leading goal scorers and we were one of the teams that scored one of the most amounts of field goals. So, we can do it. It’s just about sticking to our processes and making sure we just nail down the precision and the detail in the final end.
“And, actually, we have to do it now in the business end of the tournament and that’s what we’ll be aiming to do.”
Casey Sablowski missed the match with a knee injury but is expected to return for the Hockeyroos' quarter final match.
Hockeyroos squad v India
Name (Hometown/State) Caps/Goals
Started
Madonna Blyth (Brisbane, QLD) 305/67
Jane Claxton (Adelaide, SA) 64/5
Kirstin Dwyer (Mackay, QLD) 77/2
Anna Flanagan (Canberra, ACT) 147/33
Jodie Kenny (Wamuran, QLD) 141/87
Karri McMahon (Berri, SA) 67/7
Georgia Nanscawen (Melbourne, VIC) 159/31
Ashleigh Nelson (Wagin, WA) 179/63
Georgie Parker (Berri, SA) 80/25
Kathryn Slattery (South Stirling, WA) 19/5
Ashlee Wells (Morwell, VIC) 51/0
Used Substitutes
Teneal Attard (Mackay, QLD) 210/10
Edwina Bone (Evatt, ACT) 75/2
Brooke Peris (Darwin, NT) 57/9
Emily Smith (Crookwell, NSW) 121/49
Mariah Williams (Parkes, NSW) 18/2
Unused Substitutes
Rachael Lynch (Warrandyte, VIC) 122/0
Casey Sablowski (South Coast, NSW) 225/44
Following Monday’s tournament rest day, the Hockeyroos will enter their quarter final contest against Italy on Tuesday as previously advised.
The two sides have met on just one previous occasion. Australia's women beat Italy 4-1 in their only previous encounter, at the Indira Gandhi Cup in New Delhi in 2005.
The Hockeyroos' results so far:
9-0 win v Poland
2-0 win v Belgium
0-2 loss v New Zealand
4-2 win v India Italy's results so far:
1-1 draw v Korea
4-0 win v France
2-2 draw v Japan
0-9 loss v Netherlands
The women’s quarter final draw and playoff for 9th/10th place is as follows. Note that the matches appear out of order to accommodate broadcast and event requirements.
Women's quarter final draw.
Matches take place on Tuesday 30 June (Belgian time).
9th/10th: 10:30 CET / 18:30 AEST – France v Poland
QF2: 13:00 CET / 21:00 AEST – Australia v Italy
QF4: 15:30 CET / 23:30 AEST – New Zealand v Japan
QF1: 18:00 CET / 02:00 AEST (Wed) – Netherlands v India
QF3: 20:30 CET / 04:30 AEST (Wed) – Korea v Belgium
Match Schedule - Hockeyroos' Fixtures (dates and times all AEST)
30 June – 21:00 - Hockeyroos v Italy, Quarter Final
2 July – TBC - Semi Final / Classification
4 July – TBC - Medal Matches / Classification
Broadcast
In Australia, Fox Sports is broadcasting the Hockeyroos' matches (and those of the Kookaburras) live from the World League.
HOCKEY AUSTRALIA