Jillaroos Secure Fifth Place at Junior World Cup in Boston

The Jillaroos and WAIS scholarship holder Kate Denning have finished their Junior World Cup campaign on a positive note, defeating Germany 5-2 in Boston, USA to claim fifth place at the tournament.

Australia was switched on from the outset of the match, attacking the German defence with intent in the opening minutes, putting the Germans on the back foot.

While unable to draw penalty corners during their previous match against England, Australia’s pressure ensured this wasn’t the case during this match, with Hockeyroos Casey Eastham and Emily Hurtz running the ball hard into the circle.

Eventually they were rewarded at the 13 minute mark with Kate Jenner converting a penalty corner.

Determined to maintain their momentum, the Jillaroos continued to push forward, with intensive running from Marnie Hudson and a poorly timed tackle from the German goalkeeper resulting in another penalty corner to the Jillaroos, with Jill Dwyer converting.

Only minutes later the Jillaroos had further extended their lead, with Emily Hurtz scoring a field goal after a pass from outside the circle to make it 3-0.

Against the run of play, the Germans were able to finally break the Jillaroos defence and scored in the 34th minute from a great deflection to Celine Wilde to make it 3-1 at half time.

The Jillaroos continued to execute their forward press with Casey Eastham and Jill Dwyer playing well, causing several turnovers deep in Germany’s defence.

However it was Germany who broke through with the first goal of the second half at the 47 minute mark to bring themselves back in the game.

It took less than a minute for the Jillaroos to respond, with Jill Dwyer scoring her second goal to once again establish a two goal lead.

Australia kept up the work rate and won the ball in the midfield convincingly, creating an open counter attack. Each attack was moved forward with sharp lines and passes with Rachel Miller one of the main exponents of the fast movement.

When Hurtz scored her second goal at the 56 minute match the game was put beyond doubt with the final score reading 5-2.

Jillaroos coach Katrina Powell said she overall she was proud of her team’s efforts at the Junior World Cup.

“We’ve had ups and downs in this competition. I thought we played really well. Our game against Korea is probably going to be one of the better games in the tournament, and so there’s something to really proud of. With today’s match it was a must win situation, and we’ve had a few of those during the week. I am really proud of the girls, they’ve come a long way in the past two weeks,” said Powell.

– Hockey Australia