Australia Country (Women) on their way to glory
With skills and experience that for exceeded the other, the match between Samoa and Australia Country was a David and Goliath struggle.
And this rang true for a while when Samoa, a team that has not been exposed to such a style of hockey, were mostly caught flat footed in the first half.
Down 4-0 at half time most thought it would turn into another route.
However the Samoans were able to rally and produce a good second half performance, managing to concede only one goal.
Australia Country 5: Samoa 0
“We told them to pick up their game in both defending and attacking,” said Peta Mualia-Teo, the Samoan Captain. “To put pressure on the opposition.”
“Some of them (Samoa players) are new on the turf so hopefully they gain more knowledge about the game and more experience. And hopefully they’ll improve the next time they come to the OPC.”
Wayne Gaynor, the head coach of Australia Country said that they’ve been working on trying to gain some structure and certain maneuvers on the field.
“Our goal was to build up through the tournament so that we peaked in the main game,” he said.
However he noted weaknesses in their game against Samoa. “Our passing and our trapping let us down a lot.”
Having won all their five games in the OPC they will play in the final tomorrow and Gaynor is certain that they will improve and tighten up their weak areas.
“We hope to get a better rhythm about the team and little bit of fluidity with the movement of the ball.”
AUS Country 5(Megan Macauslan-2nd; Shelby Throneycroft- 31st; Kelly Gillard-31st, 34th; Jessica Martin-Brown -66th) Samoa 0
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