Tag: hockeyroos

4 nations champions

Hola again,

How are you all? Sorry for the delay between posts. Internet wasn’t great at our last hotel. So as you may have seen, in the last few days we have had some great success in Mendoza. We have played 3 games, firstly beating USA 1-0, then drawing with the Argies 1-1 to get us into the final, then beating the Argies last night with a goal in extra time. What an exciting game it was. We had a really tough match against them the previous day so were all feeling very tired and sore. Cronky had played a blinder to keep us in it and we were very happy to draw with them which put us in over the Germans.

The game was as tough as we had expected but this time we were all over them in the first half. I only had a few saves to make and so we were looking good going into half time. Our only problem was that we had lost one of our defenders Anna who got hit on the hand. Turns out she had smashed her knuckle so today flew home for surgery. One of the other girls from perth has been called up and so will come to play the second leg of the tour here in Rosario. Anyway we didnt come out aswell in the second half and had 2 goals scored against us, both from Pc’s. Ash and Casey combined well to get one back but it was starting to look like it was all over. With less than 30 seconds to go we headed into the circle and just as the siren went the umpire blew a short corner for us. The Argies were going nuts of course but the umpire stuck to her guns. We had a secret weapon up our sleeves in Jodi Shultz who is a big Queensland girl who can drag flick. We hid this skill the whole time and chose to pull it out as a last chance effort to draw the game. It worked. Great goal and therefore extra time. We regrouped and decided that we didnt want to be out there any longer than necessary so said one chance and that has to be a goal. Within a minute we had another short corner. Secret weapon stepped up and bang..all over. Great effort by Jodes and our first gold medal as the new hockeyroos.

This afternoon we arrived in Rosario after a 2 hour flight and a 5 hour bus ride. Here we play all the teams again in another 4 nations tournament. Plan is to do it all again but with a few injury concerns it could be a bit difficult. Im looking forward to spending a bit of time wandering rosario again. It feels like only yesterday that we were here for the world cup.

I have attached a few photos so I hope you like them. Take care

Rach x




5th at World Cup


The World cup is almost over, with only the 3v4 and 1v2 final to go tonight. For us we have finished our tour in 5th place after beating Korea 2-1 in our final match. It has been a really great trip with plenty of highs and lows but I have enjoyed my time in Rosario and relished the chance to mingle with locals, learn more about the culture hear and also speak a bit of Spanish. The Argies certainly know how to put on a show and are so pationate about hockey, which is wonderful to see. Now we head home and after a weeks break start our preparation as a team for the Commonwealth Games. Should be great!

Two from Two

Two games down and the Hockeroos are in a great position at the world cup. Yesterday we beat India 6-3 and our first game was 2-1 against Japan.

Some really good performances in the chilly Argentinian conditions. Today we will all rest up for our big game against the Dutch tomorrow. Usual plan on a rest day is to sleep in, have a few meetings, see the physio if necessary, get the goalie gear washed of course and then start looking towards the next game. Keep an eye out as it should be a tight battle.
Rach

World Cup Rosario 2010

The Hockeyroos have arrived in Rosario and after a very long few days of travel we all can’t wait to get into the hockey. Our hotel is great and we have been for a bit of a walk around to suss out the area. This afternoon we have training and then tomorrow is our first game which is the ‘Audi Cup’ against Argentina. It is a one off game as a bit of a warm up before the World Cup. Ill be putting regular posts on here once the tournament starts so keep an eye out.

Series Win

Hi everyone. This afternoon, in a milestone game for Nic Arrold (200th), we drew our final match with Germany which meant we won the series. It was a tough and very hot game in the beautiful european sun. We went into half time drawn at 0-0 after dominating the attack. I only had one save in the whole half. With about 10 or so minutes to go the Germans were awarded a terrible corner which they scored from. We knew we had to at least draw to take the series so we pushed and pushed for a goal. Some how, with about 3 seconds to go we managed to knock one in the net. The siren had gone before we even had time to celebrate. Everyone is feeling exhausted after a hockey filled 3 days so we are looking forward to a day off tomorrow as we travel to Dublin.

Tonight we did head out for dinner and after watching the Germans beat England in the world cup it was absolute carnage in the streets. Every car was tooting their horn, people were hanging out the windows yelling and cheering. Streets were blocked off as people were just drinking and singing. I have never seen anything like it. Talk about bringing a country together. The game finished 3 hours ago and we can still hear the partying from our room. Amazing! We all couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if the hockey world cup caused such excitement.

Im not sure if we will have internet access at our hotel in Ireland so this may be my last report. I hope everyone is surviving the cold winter back home. Im off to apply some moisturiser to my sun burn 😛

Rach

4 Nations Update

After two days we are leading in the four nations tournament in Germany. Yesterday we beat Ireland 4-0 in quite a good match. Nic Arrold scored 3 goals which was a very good effort, with two of them being drag flicks straight over the top of the short Indian Keeper. Today we had another hat-trick in our 6-2 win against India. Megan Rivers scored 4 goals so Im not sure if its still called a hat trick or if she gets another name for such an achievement. It was very much an end to end game but we did well to score 6 goals past the indians tight defence. I only had a few saves to make but was beaten by a PC shot and a quick shot in the second half. The weather is still hard to believe. In the first game, at 7pm, I had trouble as I was looking into the sun, then today the girls we all getting some nice body suit tan lines from our afternoon game.

The tournament is set up really well with shops, a bar, activities and a dj. We have been spoilt with some beautful food at the ground, although somehow we manage to miss out on the big bratwurst sausages that the coaching staff demolish while we are warming down. I would have thought its on natural that we too would want to embrace that part of the german culture.

Last game tomorrow against Germany then we fly out to Ireland. Our game tomorrow is just before the England v Germany game at the world cup so we wont be surprised if no one comes to the game. Hopefully we can go and watch the last half in a pub someone.

Rach

Game 1 v Germany

Guten Morgen!

It is very quiet in our section of the hotel this morning as all the girls wake after a late night of watching the the post game video. Yesterday we played our first game against Germany here in Essen and it certainly wasn’t pretty. A very important game for the Germans as one of their players Natasha Keller was playing her 350th game for Germany. An amazing achievement and certainly a big motivator for their team to do well. We started very well scoring in the first 5 minutes of the game. We then managed another goal about 20 minutes in….But…things went downhill from there. The Germans scored 3 goals in 10 minutes and another just before half time so we went into the half 4-2 down. Not the best start given we had 3 players making their debut, including our goalie, Kate Hubble. Our second half was a tough one for the girls and they all came away feeling quite exhausted. The final score line was 6-2. We came home and watched the game in groups with the defenders going first. We finished up at 10.20 pm  then the attackers started their meeting after that. My roomie came home about midnight.

We play Germany again today so hopefully we can turn things around and come away with a more positive performance. No one likes losing like that. I think Ill be watching from the side again but the tournament starts in a few days so will hopefully get to play then. India have arrived and Ireland should be coming soon so we can get into the main event.

No other news for now but hopefully I will be sending through some good news next time.

Take care

Rach

 

4 Nations Tournament Germany

The Hockeyroos have been travelling Europe for the past week in a warm up series before the 4 Nations. Today the 4 Nations tournament begins for us in Essen Germany. We play 3 games in 3 days starting with Ireland tonight at 7pm. The group has had some exciting adventures since arriving in England over a week ago including a contiki style bus ride through 5 countries in 36 hours from Bisham to Germany. We are all very excited to work towards winning this tournament and the job starts tonight. Until next time. Rach