Double Dutch calamity for hammered Hockeyroos
Australia's hockey women are not used to the sort of hammerings they were handed in consecutive days at the Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen as the world's No.1 side, the Netherlands, followed up their 8-1 win on Saturday with a 5-1 trouncing on Sunday.
Hockeyroos' coach Katrina Powell made four changes in the hope of stemming the tide after the calamitous display on Saturday and for a moment, all looked good when NSW's Alice Arnott put the visitors ahead in the seventh minute.
Arnott was back in international action for the first time since her terrific Paris Olympic Games performance last August, and made it nine goals in just 23 appearances with her reverse-stick finish.
"I was very excited to be back out there, in fact, I think it was probably the adrenaline talking that got me that goal!" said Arnott.
"It was a great play from the defence to attack, the build up was really great, and I was the lucky one on the end of it, but it was nice to be back out there and that settled the nerves a little bit for me."
Alas, for the team, it was only the prelude to another brilliant demonstration by the Dutch masters, aided by some careless turnovers from the Aussies.
The Olympic champs equalised through Marijn Veen after 13 minutes, went ahead through Maud van den Heuvel in the 21st before Yibbi Jansen scored with a familiar drag flick on the stroke of halftime.
There was no way back for the Hockeyroos as the Dutch completely dominated after the break, Jansen adding her second - and her fifth across the two matches - in the 41st minute before Felice Albers sealed their nap hand of goals seven minutes later.
It was not the happiest way to celebrate Grace Young's 50th international appearance for Australia, nor Queensland striker Jamie-Lee Surha's historic debut as just the fifth Indigenous woman to represent the Hockeyroos.
"Pulling on the Indigenous uniform was one of the most special moments for me, being a First Nations athlete in this team, I'm very proud to be here and in this uniform," Surha said.
Captain Grace Stewart was adamant that the team would "take a lot from this" as they now move on to London for the next stage of the Pro League, where they'll face India twice before taking on hosts England.
The Hockeyroos currently lie seventh of the league's nine teams, having lost seven of their 10 matches.
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