Tag: ireland

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

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