Victorian Institute of Sport’s Sophie Taylor earned Player of the Match honours after scoring her first international goal for the Hockeyroos in a 3-1 shootout win over Germany.
“Getting my first goal was really exciting, I didn’t know when it was going to come” said Taylor. “We held our cool pretty well, defended really well and just scrapped. That’s what we do really well”.
The Hockeyroos continued their strong start to the FIH Pro League after a nail-biting 2-2 draw in front of more than 2,500 fans in Hobart on Sunday.
Goals to Sophie Taylor and Grace Stewart weren’t enough to secure a Hockeyroos victory in regular time as the Australians couldn’t find an answer for Hanna Granitzki, who scored twice off penalty corners.
Eddie Bone, Brooke Peris and Mariah Williams were the goal scorers for Australia in the shootout whilst Germany’s only goal came through Nike Lorenz.
VIS’ Rachael Lynch was spectacular in the shootout defending three of the four shots that came her way, while the Hockeyroos’ penalty takers were faultless, nailing all three attempts.
The win leaves the Hockeyroos second in the FIH Pro League standings with two wins, one shootout win and a loss to their name, having beaten China PR 4-3 on Saturday.
The Kookaburras also bounced back to their best form with an important 4-2 win over Germany in front of a bumper crowd in Hobart on Sunday. The victory pushes Australia to fourth in the FIH Pro League standings where they sit behind Belgium, Netherlands and Great Britain whom they host in Perth next week. Victorian Institute of Sport’s Johan Durst was part of the winning squad.
