HOCKEY: Georgina Morgan’s penalty corner drag flick on the final siren sealed Australia a 2-1 victory over hosts Argentina in front of their home crowd at the World League Final in Rosario Monday morning.
Praising his team’s effort in the second half, Hockeyroos head coach Adam Commens said, “At the halftime break we spoke about how important it is to have belief as a group, focusing on what we want to achieve and putting those processes in place. It was important for the team to bring their individual qualities into the second half, to go out and have a go, which is what we were ultimately able to do.”
Speaking about Georgina Morgan’s drag flicking abilities, Commens added, “It has been something that we have been working on for the past three years, it’s not an overnight project and we have been fine tuning it over the past six months, her drag flick is highly rated within the team. Jodie Kenny’s flick is world class and Georgina is currently flicking at a similar speed and accuracy to Jodie. I think it’s great to show that we not only have Jodie Kenny and Anna Flanagan, we also have Georgina and a number of younger players coming through our program.”
The match between the world number two Hockeyroos and number three Las Leonas was a tight affair in which the Australians started off on the back foot when Las Leonas opened the scoring four minutes after the starting whistle. Celebrating her 200th game, Delfina Merino’s back stick shot crept past Australia’s goalkeeper Ashlee Wells and into the back of the net, setting the hosts up with a 1-0 advantage.
There was no shortage of penalty corner opportunities for either side in the second half. Australia managed to put in the hard work creating valuable attacking opportunities, however, there was not enough force behind the ball to breakdown a robust Argentine defence with world class goalkeeper Belen Succi under the bar.
During the third quarter, Western Australia’s youngster Kathryn Slattery was a key player in Australia’s attacking circle. Positioning herself in all the right places, Slattery put her body on the line on several occasions, however, was unable to deflect the ball past Argentina's defensive wall.
At the 53rd minute mark, Australia received their fifth penalty corner. Hockeyroos’ firepower Jodie Kenny managed to reclaim a broken down Australian battery with a powerful low strike, equalising with Argentina 1-1.
Fighting right to the end, Australia worked a critical penalty corner on the final siren. New South Wales' Georgina Morgan, who won the Hockeyroos’ previous match against China with her drag flicking abilities, stood calmly at the top of Australia’s battery. Releasing the trigger, Morgan fired an on-target drag flick over the head of an Argentinian defending the post and into the back of the net, sealing a 2-1 victory over the hosts on the final siren.
The Hockeyroos face Great Britain in their third match on Wednesday morning (04:15am AEDT) ahead of the quarter finals later in the week. After defeating Argentina, Australia currently sit on top of the Pool B standings on six points.
Pool A (after two rounds)
1. Netherlands (6 points)
2. New Zealand (3 points)
3. Korea (1 points)
4. Germany (1 points)
Pool B (after two rounds)
1. Australia (6 points)
2. Argentina (3 points)
3. Great Britain (1 points)
4. China (1 points)
Hockeyroos' squad v Argentina
Started
Madonna Blyth (Brisbane, QLD) 313/68
Jane Claxton (Adelaide, SA) 75/6
Kirstin Dwyer (Mackay, QLD) 87/8
Jodie Kenny (Wamuran, QLD) 151/93
Karri McMahon (Berri, SA) 82/8
Georgina Morgan (Armidale, NSW) 18/3
Georgia Nanscawen (Melbourne, VIC) 165/32
Kathryn Slattery (South Stirling, WA) 30/8
Emily Smith (Crookwell, NSW) 132/56
Mariah Williams (Parkes, NSW) 26/4
Ashlee Wells (Moe, VIC) 60/0
Used Substitute
Edwina Bone (Evatt, ACT) 86/2
Madison Fitzpatrick (Cabarita Beach, NSW) [QAS athlete] 8/3
Rachael Lynch (Warrandyte, VIC) 132/0
Gabrielle Nance (Kingscliff, NSW) [SASI athlete] 13/1
Ashleigh Nelson (Wagin, WA) 188/66
Brooke Peris (Darwin, NT) 67/12
Renee Taylor (Everton Park, QLD) 6/0
Remaining Hockeyroos fixtures
Wednesday 9 December: 4:15am AEDT: Hockeyroos v Great Britain
Friday 11 December: tbc: Quarter final
Sunday 13 December: tbc: Semi final / 5-8 playoffs
Monday 14 December: tbc: Medal matches
Hockey Australia
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