Hockeyroos Strike First Win in Four Nations

The Hockeyroos have recorded their first win under new coach Adam Commens thanks to a 1-0 victory over the USA in Argentina this morning.

Competing in a 4 nations tournament against the USA, Germany and Argentina, the win comes after yesterday’s 1-1 draw against Germany in which five players made their debuts for Australia.

With the USA coming off a 5-0 smashing at the hands of Argentina yesterday, they were always going to come out firing today. And with the Hockeyroos still trialling many new players and a new, more attacking game style, it was always going to be a close match.

With many of the new players still recovering from their debut against Germany in what was a very physical and exhausting match, the opening stages of this game was played at a much slower pace.

But after a fairly uneventful opening period the Hockeyroos clearly had more possession and controlled the match, however were unable to transfer their good play onto the scoreboard.

Chances were few and far between for both teams in the first half, with Australia’s best opportunity coming from 18 year old striker Georgia Nanscawen who delivered a powerful shot on goal, which was well saved by US goalkeeper Jaclyn Kintz.

After the half time break and with the score still goalless USA stepped up their game, and generated several dangerous chances in their circle, however Hockeyroos goalkeeper Rachael Lynch proved too good, ensuring the Hockeyroos did not concede a goal.

11 minutes into the second half and the Hockeyroos finally got their breakthrough, with gold coast based striker Kandice Olivieri, who was arguably the Hockeyroos best performer during the match, scoring her first international goal in only her second game to give the Hockeyroos the lead.

The US team pushed hard to score an equaliser throughout the second half, but Lynch once again proved too good in goals which saw the Hockeyroos hang onto their lead.

Commens said he was pleased to get the win and expects his players to get some rest before bouncing back against Argentina in their next match on Sunday.

“It is obviously good to come away with the win, it was a tough match and a hard fought win. The players put in a good effort and I think we were still exhausted from yesterday’s game against Germany which was quite a physical game. I would hope that we can recover well and expect to see the players put in another energetic performance against Argentina in our next game,” said Commens.

Commens also praised the way the newest members of the team have performed at the top level.

“It was great for Kandice (Olivieri) to score her first goal and so far I think all of the new players have contributed well, which I think looks good for the future of the team,” said Commens.

– Hockey Australia