Perth [Australia]: The second match in their maiden appearance at the 2017 Women’s Australian Hockey League turned out to be one-sided for the India ‘A’ team as they were overpowered by New South Wales (NSW) with a 7-0 win on Saturday.
NSW took a strong 3-0 lead in the first quarter of the match putting India on a back foot. It was field goals by Emily Smith (2′), Courtney Schonell (6′) and Jaime Hemmingway (12′) that gave NSW an early edge over the visitors.
Jessica Watterson added another goal to NSW tally in the 18th minute taking their overall lead to a dominating 4-0 in the second quarter. India, however, seemed to recover from the early setback as they put up a controlled defence in the following minutes that restricted NSW forwards from making easy forays into India’s circle. The change in defence-approach paid off as India kept NSW from scoring goals in the remaining minutes of the second and third quarter.
On the other hand, breaking a strong NSW defence was a tough task for Preeti Dubey & Co. Repeated attempts by Indian forwards led by the skipper herself to make successful circle penetrations was mired by a well-structured NSW defence.
The final 15 minutes though saw an urgency in NSW to end the match on a winning note as they increased the intensity of their attack. A major error in the circle saw India give away a penalty stroke in the 46th minute which was successfully converted by Kaitlin Nobbs. Another penalty stroke given away in the 48th minute saw NSW take their total score to 6-0 with Emily Smith converting the goal. Abigail Wilson’s 52nd minute field goal took NSW’s winning score to 7-0.
India ‘A’ play South Australia in their next Pool B encounter on October 2. (ANI)