Australia 5 defeated Korea 0
Goals: AUS - Nikki Hudson FG 15m FG 69m, Karen Smith FG 25m, Madonna Blyth FG 26m, Angie Skirving PC 42m
Hockey Australia: The Hockeyroos had their most convincing win of the Holiday Inn Women's Challenge on Saturday, defeating Korea 5-0 in a dominant performance.
In a tough encounter in front of a large Ipswich crowd the Hockeyroos dominated the Koreans to take the Holiday Inn Women's Challenge to 5-0 with one match remaining.
From the outset the Hockeyroos had more run than their opponents, creating multiple opportunities and continually thwarting the Korean advances. Although there were some sloppy skill errors, the Hockeyroos opened the scoring in the 15th minute of the match when Nikki Hudson found the back of the net. She made it look easy as she slid through the Korean defence and flicked it past the keeper for her sixth goal of the tournament.
At the 25th minute, Karen Smith found herself open at the top of the circle, after she had manoeuvred her way around a couple of defenders, with an open goal in front of her. The Korean keeper had no chance of saving it as it flew past her outstretched reach.
Less than a minute later Madonna Blyth joined in on the action when a deflection in front of goal landed in front of her for an easy flick into the boards to take the score to 3-0 at half time.
After the break the Hockeyroo dominance continued when a penalty corner set play saw Angie Skirving fire one past the Korean defence in what looked like turning into a practice session for the Australians.
To the Korean team's credit, they fought back late in the second half when their midfield started finding the ball and some legs and began to penetrate the circle. Some great saves by DeAnne Gilbert gave her a clean sheet and another goal to Hudson in with two minutes to go gave the Hockeyroos a 5-0 win.
Coach, Frank Murray, was happy with the team's performance, particularly some of the younger players.
ÔÇ£I am happy with the effort today. They didn't have a good day but when they did start to press us we held them off. I was particularly happy with Hollywood, Blyth and Gilbert.ÔÇØ
