Australian men finish seventh, women ninth at Indoor World Cup
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| Planet Field Hockey |
February 9, 2003 
Hockey Australia
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by Hockey Australia.
Australia Men 6 d Czech Republic 4
Goals: Australia ? Jon Stebbings PC 15m PC 30m PC 33m, Graeme McLennan PC 25m FG 36m, Mark Harris FG 34m
The Australian men have finished seventh at the Indoor Hockey World Cup after a five-goal second half produced a 6-4 win over Czech Republic in Leipzig, Germany, overnight.
Three goals to Jon Stebbings and a double to Graeme McLennan helped Australia to edge clear late in the match after they fought back gamely from a 4-1 deficit early in the second half.
Czech Republic opened the match strongly but were denied their first goal until the 8th minute after Australian goalkeeper Andy Tybell produced a number of fine saves to keep his team in the match.
Australia fell two goals behind in the 13th minute before Stebbings opened their account through a penalty corner two minutes later.
Two more goals to Czech Republic gave them a 4-1 lead but they couldn?t repel Australia?s comeback as Stebbings and McLennan proceeded to guide their team to a seventh-place finish.
In the other classification matches, Russia defeated South Africa 8-3 to claim ninth position, while a penalty stroke victory gave USA 11th place over New Zealand.
Tomorrow?s final will be between Germany and Poland. The Germans will start the final as favourites and are unbeaten in 120 indoor hockey internationals.
Australia Women 4 d South Africa 1
Goals: Australia ? Karen Seaman FG 8m, Penne Yorke FG 13m, Marika Bazley FG 19m, Alex Lupton FG 21m
Australia dominated their match against South Africa and raced to a 3-0 half time lead before running out convincing 4-1 winners to take ninth position.
Rhylee Swain?s opener in the 8th minute after a period of sustained pressure was followed by goals to Penne Yorke and Marika Bazley as Australia a cruised to a comfortable 3-0 half time lead.
Although Australia controlled the match in the second half, they could only add an Alex Lupton field goal and conceded their only goal from a penalty stroke with four minutes remaining.
In the other classification matches, Austria defeated Russia 4-1 to clinch seventh place while Trinidad & Tobago thrashed Mexico to take 11th position.
Tomorrow?s final will be between tournament heavyweights Germany and the Netherlands after both teams recorded easy semi finals victories.
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