Oceania Cup Wins for Australia

Australia’s men’s and women’s hockey teams have both tasted victory at the 2015 Oceania Cup, with both sides recording narrow wins over New Zealand.

The Hockeyroos claimed their title after defeating New Zealand in dramatic circumstances.  

It took a shoot-out to separate the two sides after the match had finished 1-1 in regulation time with the Hockeyroos going on to win the shoot-out 2-1, claiming back their 2013 Oceania Cup title.

Hockeyroos head coach Adam Commens said, “It’s always a difficult match against New Zealand and we have brought a very young and inexperienced team here, so to get the result against them at their home ground is a wonderful achievement.

“We were confident with our shoot-out and penalty corners today. I thought New Zealand defended very well, however, ultimately we got the result and once again are Oceania Cup champions.”

WAIS scholarship holders Ashleigh Nelson and Kathryn Slattery both featured for the Aussies, who will now look ahead to their World League Final campaign in Rosario, Argentina from 6-14 December 2015. The Hockeyroos’ World League squad will be named in the coming weeks. 

The Kookaburras won their over New Zealand following up Thursday’s 3-1 win with a 3-2 victory in Stratford, on Sunday afternoon. 

Australia’s senior players lead the way with an opening goal from Goulburn’s Glenn Turner four minutes after the starting whistle, followed by an on-target flick from Jamie Dwyer and a third quarter strike from WAIS athlete Trent Mitton.

Kookaburras coach Paul Gaudoin said, “I thought we started really well and stuck to our game plan today putting a lot of pressure on New Zealand. We created many turnovers and opportunities to score, however, towards the end we went off course, which resulted in a tight second half. It’s good to win games where you feel like you have played well, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement for us.”

Speaking about this year’s Oceania Cup selection with a mix between experienced and inexperienced players, Gaudoin added, “The opportunity to get young guys playing and having senior players still showing what they can do is important. Again, today was a final, so the experience for everyone in our team is valuable.

“We will now go to India to play three test matches in Raipur and then look towards the World League finals in November/December. This will be a very big tournament featuring the world’s best countries.”

Mitton was joined in the Kookaburras squad by fellow WAIS athletes Tristan Clemons, Fergus Kavanagh, Aran Zalewski and Tyler Lovell.

-HockeyAus