Hockeyroos fierce comeback not enough to stop Germany's triumph

The Hockeyroos are swiftly turning their attention to tomorrow's match against Great Britain, in what will be their last before the Paris 2024 Olympics, following a 2-3 loss to Germany in London.

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Less than 48 hours after a dramatic penalty shootout win which left the Hockeyroos brimming with confidence, their aggressive resurgence came a little too late after Germany ran away with a 3-0 lead.

Scoring their first within just a few minutes, Germany tried to gain on that momentum but the Hockeyroos relentless aggression staved off four penalty corners to remain just a goal down at half-time.

But the third quarter would go all Germany's way, as they capitalised on two of three penalty corners within three minutes to suddenly be up three goals to none.

Facing the final 15 minutes three goals down, Queensland's star striker Rosie Malone said it's a situation they prepare well for.

"No one wants to be 3 -0 down," Rosie said post-match. 

"But we have things we practice. We have things that we go back to when we're at training in Perth that we're like, okay, if we're this many goals down this is our game plan and that's what we're going to do."

And they delivered on that, producing an impressive final quarter which started with Rosie Malone's great run down the baseline before tapping it through to Alice Arnott who finished it off with a powerful flick up through the top centre of the net.

The Hockeyroos were on the charge, with nothing to lose, earning two penalty corners within the next four minutes and Stephanie Kershaw made sure one of them would count with an unstoppable low drag flick straight into the net.

With only four minutes remaining the Hockeyroos energy had you believing they would get the third to level the scores but Germany ran down the final 30 seconds on the clock to take the win.

"It was really promising to see that we can fight back and I think if we had a few more minutes we could have got the third goal in, but all in all it was really promising to show that we actually can fight back and we're not just dropping all of our cards when things aren't going perfectly," Rosie said.

"We wanted to press [Germany] hard and bring a lot of energy in and try to win the ball back, which I think we were really good at today. But we just need to take a little bit more care when we then win the ball in those moments.

Speaking on the quality of opposition at this stage of the FIH Pro League and ahead of the Hockeyroos final match against Great Britain tomorrow, Rosie said she doesn't believe teams are showing all of their cards.

"I think some coaches are being very strategic with what they want to show and not show ahead of the Olympics but I think for all of us it's great preparation going into a major tournament like the Olympics to just see what we can achieve out on the field, see what combinations we can do and where we then need to improve."

The Kookaburras and Hockeyroos play their last game of the FIH Pro League season against Great Britain on Thursday morning. The Hockeyroos play after the Kookaburras at 5.00am AEST.

Match Details
Hockeyroos v Germany
Hockeyroos: 2 (Alice Arnott 52' (FG), Stephanie Kershaw 56' (PC))
Germany: 3 (Charlotte Stapenhorst 3' (FG), Nike Lorenz 36' (PC), Lisa Nolte 39' (PC))
At Lee Valley Hockey & Tennis Centre, London

Hockeyroos: 1. Claire Colwill, 2. Rosie Malone, 5. Grace Young, 13. Hattie Shand, 14. Stephanie Kershaw, 15. Kaitlin Nobbs (c), 18. Jane Claxton, 19. Jocelyn Bartram (gk), 20. Karri Somerville, 24. Mariah Williams, 29. Rebecca Greiner, 3. Brooke Peris, 4. Amy Lawton, 6. Penny Squibb, 7. Aleisha Power (gk), 11. Alice Arnott, 21. Renee Taylor, 22. Tatum Stewart