21.07.2012

The Australian B'94 Youth Girls team has recorded a 9-9 draw with Canada in their final game of the Olympic Hopefuls Tournament in Dunaujvaros, Hungary.

Australia started strongly jumping out to a 5-3 lead at quarter time before the Canadians applied a heavy press to reduce the margin to 7-6 at the main break.

Both teams converted extra-man opportunites early in the fourth term with the Aussies leading by one with 1m20s left on the clock.

However the Canadians gained possession in the final 20 seconds and were able to equalise in extra-man.

Despite the heartbreak Aleks Osadchuk was pleased with the team's performance and said it was a strong finish to the tour.

"It was great to draw the game and finish ahead of Canada in the tournament placings, but at the same time it was disappointing not to win because the girls were the better team and this was their best performance of the tournament," Osadchuk said.

Jade Appel, who had an outstanding game in attack and defence, agreed with her coach.

“We are letting ourselves down with a lack of concentration right through the four quarters," Appel said.

"We have gained a lot of experience from this tournament but we are aware of how hard we need to train prior to the World Championships in Perth in December."

Final Places:  Netherlands, Hungary, USA, Australia, Canada, Czech Republic

Australian B94: 

Lilian Hedges, Ainsley Masek, Belinda Symons, Montana Perkins, Rebecca Curtis, Shannan Martin, Stephanie El Safty, Jade Appel, Megan du Toit, Tiana Andersen, Kassia Ralston, Pascalle Casey, Fiona Walsh, Stephanie Calaizis

Result: Australia 9 drew Canada 9

X man For: 2 from 5

Penalties For:  1 from  1

X man Against: Canada  4  from 12 and 1 from 1 penalty

AUS Scorers: Jade Appel 3, Megan du Toit 3, Ainsley Masek, Belinda Symons, Shannan Martin

AUS Best: Jade Appel, Montana Perkins, Ainsley Masek

Aussies topple Czechs

Australia has recorded their first victory of the Olympic Hopefuls Tournament in Hungary defeating the Czech Republic 13-4.

The Australian team started slowly giving a goal lead to their Czech opponents before producing some dominant attack to score eight goals to one.

The girls piled on the pressure in the last term to extend their lead and seal the nine goal win.

Belinda Symons, who netted twice, said it was a great performance and believed the squad was progressing nicely.

"Tonight’s game was a much better team effort. It has given us great confidence and hopfeully we can use that in our last game tomorrow," she said.

Her coach Aleks Osadchuk agreed, but admitted that it would be a harder task against the Canadians.

"I am very pleased to have won the game tonight, but I know the girls need to work a lot harder to match it with the Canadians tomorrow.”

Australian will play Canada at 2.00am on Saturday AEST.

Australian B94:

Lilian Hedges, Ainsley Masek, Belinda Symons, Montana Perkins, Rebecca Curtis, Shannan Martin, Stephanie El Safty, Megan du Toit, Tiana Anderson, Kassia Ralston, Pascalle Casey, Fiona Walsh, Stephanie Calaizis

Rested: Jade Appel

Result: Australia 13 bt Czech Republic 4

X man For: 1 from 5

X man Against: Czech Republic 2 from 6

AUS Scorers: Pascalle Casey 3, Belinda Symons 2, Rebecca Curtis 2, Ainsley Masek, Shannan Martin, Stephanie El Safty, Megan du Toit, Tiana Andersen, Fiona Walsh

AUS Best: Montana Perkins, Belinda Symons, Fiona Walsh

Game 2: Aussies fall to Dutch

Australia has gone down 8-6 to the Netherlands in their second game of the Olympic Hopefuls Tournament in Dunaujvaros, Hungary.

It was a much stronger performance by the Aussie girls particularly in the second half.

The girls struggled early, failing to fire a shot past the strong Dutch keeper. The game was more balanced in the final three periods with Australia scoring six goals to five.

Coach Aleks Osadchuk was please with the effort but admitted there was a lot of improvement left in the team.

"This was a much better performance today but we are still looking for consistency in our game," Osadchuk said.

Stephanie El Safty agreed with her coach saying they allowed their opponents too much of an advantage in the first half.

“We are letting ourselves down with lack of concentration in the first quarter,” El Safty said.

“Tonight we let the Netherlands score three goals while we were unable to convert three of our own down the other end.”

Australia’s next game is against Hungary on Thursday at 3.30 am AEST.

Australian B94:

Lilian Hedges, Ainsley Masek, Belinda Symons, Montana Perkins, Rebecca Curtis, Shannan Martin, Stephanie El Safty, Jade Appel, Megan du Toit, Tiana Andersen, Kassia Ralston, Pascalle Casey, Fiona Walsh, Stephanie Calaizis

Resulted: Australia 6 lost to Netherlands 8

X man for: 0 from 1 and 2 from 2 penalties

X man against: Netherlands 2 from 3 and 1 from 1 penalty

AUS Scorers: Shannan Martin 2, Montana Perkins, Rebecca Curtis, Jade Appel, Fiona Walsh

AUS Best: Shannan Martin, Jade Appel, Montana Perkins

Game 1: Australia fall to USA

The Australian B94 girl’s team has fallen 8-2 to the USA in their first game of the Olympic Hopefuls Tournament in Dunaujvaros, Hungary.

The young Australian team was for the most part very solid in defence and the game was evenly matched up until half time when the score was 3-2 in favour of the USA.

In the third period the USA scored four unanswered goals whereas the Australian team missed many potential scoring opportunities. The 1 from 6 in extra man situations reflected the problem the Australian girls had in getting the ball across the goal line

Drummoyne Devils rising star Shannan Martin, who was playing in her first international match at this level said the Australians said a loss of concentration in the last two quarters was costly.

“We were an even match for the USA up until the half way point but we did not maintain our focus or intensity in the second half of the match,” Martin said.

Teammate Ainsley Masek believes the Aussies would need to give more I attack next time they play the Americans.

“The team needs to be  more aggressive in attack if we are to overcome the solid USA defence in the future, even though there had been a vast improvement in the team’s play since arriving in Hungary a week ago,” Masek said.

Australian will play their second game on Thursday against the Netherlands at 12.30 am AEST.

Australian B94:

Lilian Hedges, Ainsley Masek, Belinda Symons, Montana Perkins, Rebecca Curtis, Shannan Martin, Stephanie El Safty, Jade Appel, Megan du Toit, Kassia Ralston, Pascalle Casey, Fiona Walsh, Stephanie Calaizis

Rested:  Tiana Andersen

Result:  Australia 2 lost to USA  8

X man for:  1 from 6

X man against:  USA scored 0 from 4

AUS Scorers:  Shannan Martin, Fiona Walsh

AUS Best:  Jade Appel, Stephanie Calaizis, Montana Perkins