Jocelyn Bartram, Australia’s outstanding goalkeeper, says the Hockeyroos are out to atone for missing out on a medal at the last World Cup as they go for bronze on Sunday.
Bartram kept out a succession of Dutch penalty corners, while she also produced a world-class double save from Eva de Goede and Marloes Keetels as the world champions were kept at bay during a 1-0 win over the Hockeyroos.
Australia will now be aiming to overturn their fourth-place finish at London 2018 when Spain beat them to the podium.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to come away with a medal,” said the NSW keeper. “The last World Cup we came fourth and that hurt still runs deep in our group so we will come back and fight hard for that medal.”
Australia were forced to defend at their best against the Netherlands as they kept the game in the balance before the Dutch’s third-quarter onslaught.
Bartram, who is studying Medicine at the University of Notre Dame, added: “We went out there with full belief today and we were all doing it for each other. I knew they had my back, and I had theirs so that really helped connect us to fight today.”
Hockeyroos captain Jane Claxton admitted that her side had the Olympic, Euro and world champions “on the ropes” for a good portion of the semi-final.
Meanwhile, Marloes Keetels, playing her last tournament for Oranje, admitted that Bartram was the difference from a bigger scoreline.
She told The Hockey Paper: “We had a lot of corners and she played a great match, We could have played some attacks a bit smarter to create more one on ones with the goalkeeper. But she [Bartram] did something really well today as we couldn’t create that second goal.
“They just kept going and we knew we had to keep focused until right until the end of the game with their penalty corner and thankfully Lidewij [Welten] made a really nice first run.”
