Despite a decimated squad due to a number of injuries, including Jamie Dwyer, Simon Orchard, Matthew Butturini, Matthew Swann, Liam De Young, Rob Hammond and Fergus Kavanagh, the current world number 1 dominated the series against Korea.
In their first encounter last Friday, Australia defeated Korea 2-0, and lamented a lack of effectiveness after the match with 19 shots on goal having yielded only two conversions, a first half penalty corner goal by Luke Doerner, and a 60th minute field goal from Mark Knowles.
Two days later, Korea started into the match more confident and managed to hold the world number 1 scoreless until midway through the second half, but a goal from Russell Ford and a last minute penalty corner conversion by Chis Ciriello eventually secured another win for Australia.
Game 3 saw the home team book a solid 5-1 win over the guests despite a confident and competitive first half performance from Korea. Russell Ford opened the scoring midway through the first half, with Luke Doerner piling on a second just before halftime. After the break, Nam Hyun Woo kept his side in the running with Korea's first goal of the series, but Matt Gohdes and Glenn Turner put away two quick goals in response to extend the Kookaburras' lead to three goals. Only minutes from the final whistle, Glenn Simpson eventually finalized the 5-1 scoreline.
In the last of the four test matches, Korea took a surprise early lead in the 3rd minute through Nam Hyun Woo, but Mark Knowles got the hosts onto the scoreboard as well 12 minutes later. Chris Ciriello took Australia ahead once more with a second half penalty corner goal, before Hyun Hye Sung scored a late goal for Korea to force the draw and avoid a complete wipe out in the series.
It is expected that Australia's Olympic squad of 16 will be announced on Monday. Continuing their preparations, Australia will then meet New Zealand in a 3 match test series in Cairns from 22 to 25 June.
8 June - Australia v Korea 2-0 (1-0)
10 June - Australia v Korea 2-0 (0-0)
12 June - Australia v Korea 5-1 (2-0)
13 June - Australia v Korea 2-2 (1-1)
Source: Hockey Australia
