Argentina’s Las Leonas outclass Irish ladies in 4-1 thriller in Dublin, Ireland – Hockey Update
Argentina, the reigning World Champions and the World Number one side, outclassed their Irish counterparts by 4-1 in their second friendly match played at University College Dublin (UCD).
Argentina’s Las Leonas who presently are on the European tour are looking in marvellous form as they defeated Ireland in the first match with the same margin of 4-1 after their Spanish campaign in which they thrashed Spanish ladies in the first of their
two matches by 4-1 while the second one was concluded at 1-1 draw before travelling to Ireland.
The team will fly to Monchengladbach, Germany to participate in the EuroHockey Nations Championships which is going to be played from August 20 and will be concluded on August 28, where all of the top European sides will be among the contenders.
Like the previous one, the Las Leonas remained dominant throughout the match, particularly in the second half in which they ticked the scoreboard thrice after scoring the opener in the first half while Irish ladies scored their solitary goal in the first
thirty five minutes.
The coach of the Irish side, Gene Muller, looked convinced with the performance of his athletes against the World Number one side.
"I am happy with our preparation for the Europeans these matches were very useful for us as they highlighted some of our weakness but at the same time we had the opportunity to play high quality international hockey," Gene Muller, the head coach of the Irish
national Women’s hockey team, shared his comments after the match.
The first half started with early action by the Las Leonas as they opened their account halfway when Martina Cavallero scored the first goal of the match in the 18th minute, a wonderful field goal. However, Irish Women replied moments before the
interval when Emma Smyth ticked the scoreboard and thus reduce the Argentinean lead to level.
In the second half, Las Leonas really proved themselves as World Champions as they scored three quick goals in a span of eight minutes early in the second half. Las Leonas doubled their lead just eight minutes into the second half when Delfina Merino scored
the second Argentinean goal in the 43rd minute and thus put her team once again ahead of their opponents while Daniela Scroga made a wonderful open play effort in the 45th minute and further increased the Argentinean lead. Las Leonas
did not stop at that instead they continued to put more and more pressure on the Irish Women and once again scored in the 51st minute but this time it was Luciana Aymar with a penalty stroke.
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