WEDNESDAY, 1.30PM:
SOUTH Africa’s women’s hockey team lost their final pool match at the World Cup against Australia in Utrecht, but gave the girls from down under quite a runaround in the match, which ended at 5-2.
The score may look like a walkover, but the Australians had to pull out all the stops to keep the South Africans from their goal line. The fact that Australia have had only two goals scored against them in the entire tournament shows the commitment of the South Africans.
The South Africans played brilliantly for periods in both halves, and were unlucky to concede a soft goal in the final minutes.
The Australians scored three times in the first half through Katrina Powell, Bianca Langham and Susan Mott.
South Africa countered with a move involving Kerry Bee, Hanneli Arnold and Ali Dare, with Marilyn Agliotti scoring a good goal. Australia then scored a fourth through Rechelle Hawkes, but South Africa forced a succession of quick corners and added to their tally when Susan Wessels netted from a variation.
Australia scored a fifth goal at the death to put the result beyond doubt.