Slattery Strike Seals Hockeyroos Series Win
A goal to WAIS scholarship holder Kathryn Slattery has helped the Hockeyroos to a 2-0 win in the third and final test match against Korea in Perth.
The win sealed a 2-0 series victory for the Australians, who will next head to New Zealand for the Oceania Cup in October.
The Hockeyroos opened the scoring in the 19thminute when Slattery timed her run to the penalty spot to perfection, deflecting home, following a goalless first quarter.
Gabrielle Nance doubled the home side’s advantage on 22 minutes capitalising on an opportunity to shoot home via deflection off a Korean defender, to register her first goal in the green and gold.
The visitors fought back strongly in the second half, but couldn’t find a way past Australian goalkeeper Ashlee Wells, who thwarted several Korea attacks.
Australia coach Adam Commens whilst pleased with the result said his side still had areas to improve defensively.
“It was excellent that we got the result but I think we were a little bit loose in the back. They [Korea] created too many chances for my liking.
“There were some really good pieces of play and we were unlucky not to score a few more than we did, which is positive. We just need to tighten up some things in the back and then we’ll have a pretty good team performance,” he said.
Reflecting on the national women’s camp and Korean series over the past week, Commens added, “It’s been a great couple of weeks. We saw 36 young players that are coming through and then from those 36 we’ve used 23 of them in this series. It’s a great opportunity for those players to play against a quality international opponent and to see where they sit in terms of their selection in the lead up to the Olympic squad selection at the end of the year.
“I’m really happy with what I’ve seen. There’s a number of young players that have taken a big step since the start of the year and certainly we’ve got a great batch of youngsters coming through. They’ll be vying for those valuable spots for the Olympic spots in Rio.”
