Saturday, February 15, 2025

England women reach Commonwealth hockey final after more Maddie Hinch heroics

Birmingham — As Old Joe struck six, 60 minutes of hockey failed to produce a semi-final worthy of the occasion. But then along came Maddie Hinch, England women’s star turn in goalkeeper yellow, a colour she couldn’t hide from in front of 6,000 expectant fans. Instead, she stood tall once again in the shoot-out drama. Perhaps more than ever. Like a teacher knowing her pupils’ notes, she saved three New Zealand attempts outright as England reached their fourth Commonwealth Games gold medal match.

They will head into Sunday’s finale with the crowd behind them as they go for that first title, across both genders. Atoning for the defeat they dominated at last month’s World Cup, they will be buoyed by this, no doubt, but will have to find more quality to see off Australia.

After a scoreless hour, they squeezed past the youthful defending (and they sure did a lot of that) champions – the third Commonwealth semi-final between these two sides to end in a shoot-out – courtesy of Hinch’s heroics and Izzy Petter and Hannah Martin’s 23m line goals as red and white players danced for joy into ‘Super Sunday’.

Continue reading...

Unlock ALL our premium content for 3 months for only £1...and get use of our subscriber-only app for a better reading experience.

Simply select Monthly or Yearly subscription and use coupon 3FOR1 when prompted.

Already a subscriber to our website? Login

Hockey Factory Shop

spot_img

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

More from Author

‘We have Premier Division calibre hockey players at Barnes – the challenge is getting there’

Barnes women’s coach Omar Shibli hasn’t banned the words ‘Premier Division’...

Hockey India League: 6 takeaways from Rourkela and Ranchi

We run the rule over the lucrative Hockey India League as...

Hockey India League: Bengal Tigers edge Hyderabad as 10-year plan starts

Rourkela -- Fans had begun to drift out before the second-half...

- A word from our sponsors -

spot_img