Hockeyroos Claim Series Victory over Spain
The Hockeyroos have claimed overall victory in their test series against Spain, held in Perth, thanks to a 3-2 victory on Saturday night.
In what was supposed to be a four game series in the end it came down to a best of four, with game one rained off due to conditions being deemed unsafe at Guildford Grammar Turf.
After a one all draw in the second game of the series it was clear it was going to be difficult to split the two teams.
This rang true, the next match, played at Warwick Hockey Centre, concluding with the exact same scoreline, 1-1.
If the Hockeyroos wanted to put a win on the scoreboard they would have to step it up to a new level for game four at Perth Hockey Stadium on Saturday night.
Coming out fast, Australia were the first to score for the game, Jordyn Holzberger scoring from a penalty corner in the 17th minute, only to have Spain level the score again one minute later.
It didn’t take long for Australia to regain the lead, Jodie Kenny converting a penalty stroke in the 20th minute.
Once again Spain fired back almost instantly, bringing their own score up to two just four minutes later.
Australia were awarded a second penalty stroke in the 36th minute, Karri McMahon finding the net.
Despite further attacking efforts form Spain they were unable to re-level the score eventually suffering a one goal defeat.
The 3-2 victory meant the Hockeyroos had gained the lead in the series which would eventually go on to be the overall series win with game five again resulting in a draw between the two sides.
WAIS athlete and acting captain for the Hockeyroos, Kathryn Slattery said “it’s great to come away with a win for the series.”
“We’ve got a lot of learning points to bring out of this series moving forward especially with some big tournaments coming up.”
Speaking of the final game she continued to say “it’s obviously disappointing to not get the win. We were probably a bit sluggish coming off the game yesterday.”
“we put together some really good patches of play going forward and if we were a bit more diligent up front we probably would’ve come away with the win.”
- Annika Lee-Jones
