[img_assist|nid=3466|title=Wrongfooted|desc=Jill Dwyer playing for Australia vs the US – the American’s winning the first test of the series 1-0|link=popup|align=right|width=220|height=147]Australia 0
USA 1
The US women’s field hockey team have defeated Australia 1-0 in the first of three tests being played downunder.
An eight minute penalty corner goal from Shannon Taylor separated the teams in the test played on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast on Thursday night.
[img_assist|nid=3466|title=Wrongfooted|desc=Jill Dwyer playing for Australia vs the US – the American’s winning the first test of the series 1-0|link=popup|align=right|width=220|height=147]Australia 0
USA 1
The US women’s field hockey team have defeated Australia 1-0 in the first of three tests being played downunder.
An eight minute penalty corner goal from Shannon Taylor separated the teams in the test played on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast on Thursday night.
Australian Olympian Lee Bodimeade, coach of the Olympic-bound US team said it was interesting to coach against his home country. “I think we are off to a good start but I still think we’ve got a lot to work on, I think we could have wrapped the match up in the first half,” he said.
Hockeyroos coach Adam Commens said he expected this group to play a lot better moving forward. “They are inexperienced and haven’t played a lot of hockey together but that’s no excuse, our basics let us down tonight,” he said.
Australia had their chances and at times during the match their foward build up looked threatening, they just needed to maintain that intensity for the whole 70 minutes.
The Queenslanders in the group performed well in front of their home crowd with tonight’s captain Teneal Attard outstanding.
Marnie Hudson, Jordyn Holzberger and Jill Dwyer all had solid patches throughout the match.
The determined USA outfit scored off a penalty corner strike in the first half through number 11 Shannon Taylor and were able to keep the Hockeyroos scoreless.
The Hockeyroos failed to force many penalty corners and the ones they did were well defended by USA keeper Jackie Kintzer.
The Australians almost equalised with 30 seconds to go but Kintzer made an outstanding save and the Hockeyroos were unable to convert a short corner after the whistle.
The Hockeyroos will make around three changes for their second match that hits off on Saturday at 6pm.
Both weekend matches will be streamed live via the Hockey Australia website and on the Hockeyroos Facebook page.
