Australia's Hockey Womenlift To Beat China In Final

The Age

Sunday April 9, 1995

Australia's world champion women's hockey team surged to victory in the final of the four nations tournament, with a 2-0 win over China at the Pines Stadium in Adelaide last night.

Undefeated in the preliminary rounds, the Australians turned on a second-half burst to clinch the title.

The victory gave the home side consecutive titles after winning a similar round-robin tournament in Hobart last week.

Earlier yesterday, New Zealand claimed third spot with a 5-0 drubbing of South Africa.

Although scores were level at half-time in the Australia-China match, the tourists held the advantage with their fast attacking drive worrying the Hockeyroos.

Renita Farrell's missed penalty shot in the 15th minute represented Australia's only genuine chance of a first-half goal. Australia then lifted a notch after the break and was rewarded in the 47th minute when Michelle Andrews struck truly.

Then Alyson Annan found the back of the net in the last five seconds of the game.

Australian coach Ric Charlesworth saw last night's final against the world No. 7 team as an ideal chance for the younger members of the squad.

``They're a very good team and that's why I wanted to play them today," he said. ``We needed a hard match for the younger players in our group. It was a bit of a baptism for them today."

Significantly, Australia did not concede a goal throughout the entire tournament, an effort that pleased the Australian coach. ``We didn't have a goal scored against that and you can't do much more than that," he said.