Women's Champions Trophy 2010 Round Four: Germany, England and Argentina register wins
The 4th round of the Women’s Champions Trophy Hockey Tournament being held in Nottingham, England on Thursday saw Germany beat New Zealand, hosts England beat China and defending Champions Argentina outplayed the tournament leaders Netherlands.
In the first game of the day, New Zealand’s losing streak extended to 15 Champions Trophy matches when Germany beat them 5-2 in one of the highest scoring games of the tournament. Germany secured an early lead through Hoffman who opened the scoring through a field goal in the 12th minute of the match. Soon afterwards, Otte added another through a well taken penalty corner and Hoffman scored her second goal in the 31st minute to send Germany into a half time lead of 3-0. The Germans continued to dominate the proceedings as Stockel registered the 4th German goal in the 54th minute of the game. The goal was followed by a 58th minute penalty corner which was brilliantly converted by Keller to take the game away from Black Sticks. New Zealand scored two scintillating goals in the 63rd and 67th minute thorough Glynn and Harrison but proved to be too little too late.
Eileen Hoffman scored her 4th goal of the tournament which makes her the top goal scorer in the competition. Keller scored her 18th Champions Trophy goal when she netted Germany’s 5th goal of the day. This put her behind Argentina’s Alejandra Gulla who has 19 goals to her name till now.
In the second game of the evening, hosts England edged past China by 2 goals to 1. Ma Yibo opened the scoring for the Chinese with a 12th minute penalty corner who held the lead until the 45th minute of the game. However, England equalized in the second half through Richardson who struck from a penalty corner. The hosts gained the lead when Craddock netted an open goal to take the score to 2-1 in the 52nd minute. England was successfully able to defend their lead for the remaining 18 minutes.
This was England’s first victory over China in five Champion’s Trophy games. Their last meeting saw China thrash England 7-0 last year. Yibo scored her 16th goal from a penalty corner which is a record in the women’s edition of Champions Trophy Hockey.
England Coach Danny Kerry expressed her delight over the victory and said that owing to the intense competition, a victory against China is exactly what they needed. She said that she was hopeful of a comeback after an early goal by the Chinese and their preparation before the game paid off as England was able to defeat China.
The last game of the day was played between world number one Netherlands and defending Champions Argentina. Argentina had accumulated only 4 points from their last three games and their chances of defending the title looked bleak.
Netherlands suffered an early blow when Barrionuevo converted a penalty corner in the 6th minute. However their lead did not last for long as three minutes later, Agliotti converted a penalty corner. Netherlands looked in good shape and kept applying additional pressure on the Argentineans. Their work paid off when they took the lead in the 23rd minute when Paumen converted another penalty corner.
Argentina, desperate to grab a win, threw everything at their opponents and Merino cancelled the Dutch lead in the 32nd minute to go into halftime with the scores level at 2-2.
Argentina defended well in the second half and survived a few scares from the Dutch team early in the second period. In the 47th minute, Argentina took the lead for the second time in the game through Rebecchi. Moreover, instead of giving up their hard earned lead, they further strengthened it when Luchetti headed home their 4th goal of the game to seal victory.
Holland suffered their first defeat after a nine match unbeaten run since 2008. Barrionuevo scored her 15th Champions Trophy goal, all of which have come from penalty corners. Paumen and Barrionuevo joined Germany’s Hoffman as top scorers of the tournament with 4 goals each.
Despite the defeat, Holland continues to lead the table with 9 points and a superior goal difference as opposed to England who have also amassed three victories. Argentina and Germany both have 7 points each while China has only a single victory to its name and New Zealand is yet to score a point in the competition.
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