Australian Hockey Juniors Qualify for World Cup
Australia’s junior hockey teams have qualified for the women’s and men’s Junior World Cups after over coming New Zealand in the Oceania qualification tournament held on the Gold Coast.
The Australian Under 21 women’s team, the Jillaroos were the first to qualify for July’s Women’s Junior World Cup, overcoming a determined New Zealand outfit in their three match test series.
The Jillaroos squad – featuring WAIS scholarship holder Kathryn Slattery – began their Junior World Cup Qualifiers (JWCQ) campaign in style with a 3-1 victory against New Zealand in their first match. Star players Mariah Williams, Anna Flanagan and Madison Fitzpatrick converted to put the Kiwis on the back foot early.
The second match saw the Jillaroos continue their excellent form and achieve their goal of gaining automatic qualification into the Junior World Cup, by defeating New Zealand 4-1. Mariah Williams’ opening goal of the match was quickly followed by goals to Georgia Nanscawen, Murphy Allendrof and Madison Fitzpatrick.
A hard fought final match between the Trans-Tasman rivals saw the Jillaroos secure a clean sweep, notching a 3-2 victory with Madison Fitzpatrick and Mariah Williams again prolific, with the pair scoring for the Jillaroos in all three matches.
The women’s junior world cup will be held in Monchengladbach, Germany from July 27 – August 4.
The Australian men gained automatic qualification after defeating New Zealand in Sunday’s final, courtesy of a 4-2 result.
The Burras got their JWCQ campaign off to a flying start with a 28-nil victory over hockey minnows, Vanuatu. The victory saw 12 Burras on the score sheet, including 10 to Justin Douglas. The match saw the Burras secure 85 circle penetrations and 24 shots on goal.
A tougher second match saw the Burras defeat New Zealand 4-2 and win their way through to the final. It was an inconsistent performance by the boys, expect for Matthew Dawson who was the stand out on the ground.
Heavy rain on Saturday caused the Burras match against Papua New Guinea to be called-off, allowing for the players to rest up before the final against New Zealand.
The first half of the final was an even contest with the Burras missing plenty of chances from their 15 circle penetrations to NZ’s seven. A much improved second half saw the Burras have 22 circle penetrations to five and produce 14 shots on goal. Blake Govers was the standout up forward scoring a hat trick and taking his goal scoring tally to seven for the tournament.
WAIS scholarship holder Matthew Lim was a member of the Burras’ squad.
The men’s Junior World Cup will be held from December 6 – 15 in New Delhi, India.
– Hockey Australia