Argentina impressed with a 7-0 victory over South Africa at the first Youth Olympic Games while the Netherlands beat Ireland 3-1. New Zealand came back after being 0-2 down against Korea and won 3-2. Tomorrow the Netherlands play South Africa, Ireland face New Zealand and Korea compete against Argentina.
The boys’ competition will also go underway tomorrow.
New Zealand defeat Korea 3-2 after being 0-2 down
Korea gave a 2-0 lead away and finally lost 2-3 to New Zealand. Due to a great finish the Black Sticks deserved the late victory because they had never given up fighting.
Monday’s last match was the most competitive one. Both teams competed on the same level and the score could have gone in either direction. The young Black Sticks created the first big opportunity in this match: They won a penalty corner in the 10th minute but Danielle SUTHERLAND’s flick hit the crossbar. Now it was Korea’s turn: BAEK Eeseul managed to lift the third attempt of a penalty corner over the goalkeeper’s head into the net. New Zealand, pushed forward by their captain Rachel McCANN, tried to fight back but Korea’s goalkeeper Mira HONG saved the attempts of Jamie BOLTON and Michaela CURTIS.
Korea had some advantages at the beginning of the second half but it was New Zealand’s goalkeeper Sarah MATTHEWS who kept her team in the game. However MATTHEWS was defeated by NAM So Ri’s penalty corner flick in the 48th minute which extended the lead to 2-0. From now on the Asian Champions played more defensively and watched out for counter-attacks. After young Black Stick Jessica CHISHOLM was sent off with a yellow card New Zealand fought even harder. Short in numbers Michaela CURTIS cut the lead in half. Only two minutes later Samara DALZIEL equalised by smashing the ball highly into the net. Korea seemed to be totally confused afterwards. New Zealand benefitted from this situation and DALZIEL scored again after converting a one-on-one. The Korean team was urgent to reclaim pride but couldn’t defeat the Black Sticks’ defence again.
New Zealand v Korea 3-2 (0-1)
0-1 28th BAEK Eeseul (PC)
0-2 48th NAM So Ri (PC)
1-2 56’ Michaela CURTIS (FG)
2-2 58’ Samara DALZIEL (FG)
3-2 61’ Samara DALZIEL (FG)
Argentina impress with 7-0 victory over South Africa
The young Las Leonas started very powerful in the first Youth Olympic Games defeating South Africa with a convincing 7-0. The better goal difference made them overtaking the lead in the table from the Netherlands.
Argentina started with great pace into their first match at these Youth Olympic Games. Agustina ALBERTARRIO had the first opportunity to take the lead when her reverse-stick-shot missed the far bottom corner of the goal by centimetres. The young Las Leonas dominated the match and pressed South Africa deeply into their half. Agustina ALVAREZ opened the score in the 18th minute with a penalty corner goal. Five minutes later Eugenia GARRAFO doubled the lead. Jimena CEDRES, Agustina MAMA and GARRAFO linked very well and finished their attack with the
2-0. Five minutes before halftime Argentina won another penalty corner which was converted by team-captain Camila BUSTOS. But the impressive South Americans were not finished: Agustina ALBERTARRIO converted another penalty corner and extended the lead to 4-0.
The Argentine team also dominated the second half. Sol FERDANDEZ made it 5-0 and afterwards team-captain BUSTOS scored her second goal of the day. With a convincing 6-0 lead in the back Argentina slowed down the pace and allowed South Africa to create a few chances. The last goal in this match was scored by GARRAFO again.
Argentina v South Africa 7-0 (4-0)
1-0 18’ Agustina ALVAREZ (PC)
2-0 23’ Eugenia GARRAFO (FG)
3-0 31’ Camila BUSTOS (PC)
4-0 34’ Agustina ALBERTARRIO (PC)
5-0 39’ Sol FERNANDEZ (FG)
6-0 46’ Camila BUSTOS (PC)
7-0 64’ Eugenia GARRAFO (FG)
Netherlands win the opening match of first Youth Olympic Games
The Netherlands beat Ireland 3-1 in the opening match of the first Youth Olympic Games making them leading the table.
Ireland started off very well, they won two penalty corners in the first eight minutes but both failed. The Netherlands needed some time to get themselves into the game before they were able to put pressure on their opponents. Their first penalty corner in the 18th minute was saved well by the Irish goalkeeper Jenna HOLMES. Four minutes later Floortje PLOKKER scored the first goal of the Youth Olympic Games when she took the ball reverse-stick-side near the circle-line and smashed it in. Emily BEATTI missed a great opportunity to equalise soon after: She wanted to lift the ball over the goalkeeper’s head in her one-on-one but the attempt went wide. In spite of receiving two green (Elsie NIX, Jet de GRAEFF) and one yellow card (Roos BROEK) in the last six minutes of the first half the Netherlands managed to take their 1-0 lead into halftime.
Ireland equalised out of the blue in the 42nd minute: Chloe BROWN and Emily BEATTY counter-attacked, combined well, BEATTY took the shot and scored. The tied score did not impress the Dutch girls who struck back immediately afterwards. Roos BROEK received the ball in the circle directly after the push-back was taken. She left the Irish goalkeeper no chance. The match was interrupted due to lightning for roughly 40 minutes. After the restart the Netherlands were able to increase their lead when Frederique DERKX flicked in a penalty corner. The Irish girls tried to answer again but the Netherlands defended well and secured their first three points.
Netherlands v Ireland 3-1 (1-0)
1-0 22’ Floortje PLOKKER (FG)
1-1 42’ Emily BEATTY (FG)
2-1 43’ Roos BROEK (FG)
3-1 63’ Frederique DERKX (PC)
The FIH tournament micro site http://www.worldhockey.org/yog/ will be bringing you extensive coverage of all the action from the first Youth Olympic Games. The site will provide all official information and news from the tournament, keeping you fully up-to-date with the latest scores and league tables. The site will also include written match previews and reports, action photos, video interviews and much more. Photos of the opening ceremony are provided as well.
