Hockeyroos hammer Poland in Antwerp

Four goals from Jodie Kenny have been the catalyst for a Hockeyroos win over Poland in their first game of the World Hockey League.

The Hockeyroos have gotten off to a hot start to their World Hockey League campaign in Antwerp, smashing Poland 9-0.

The Hockeyroos' goalscoring exploits were led by Jodie Kenny, who bagged four goals throughout the match and opened the scoring in the ninth minute.

Kenny's three penalty corners and a penalty stroke against Poland were the foundations to the Australian women's strong start to the competition in which a top three finish will guarantee Olympic qualification.

Coach Adam Commens was pleased with the way in which his side had gone about their task and singled out their success rate from penalty corners as particularly pleasing.

"We thought that Poland were an opponent that would compete quite hard but probably not bother us in terms of a result," Commens said.

"We were hoping to make sure we could execute an effective gameplan and I thought the girls did that really well.

"We made some adjustments to that gameplan as the match went on and I thought they were able to implement those changes well.

"The execution of our penalty corners was particularly pleasing - we've got a potent penalty corner battery and one of our aims was to be effective in the attacking circle, whether that's a goal, shot or gaining a penalty corner. I thought we did that really well."

Georgie Parker's emphatic rebound shot for 2-0 came following Kenny's first quarter opener, a trademark pin-point flick into the top right corner.

Kenny's second, low into the bottom left corner was her 80th for her country in this her 138th appearance and she completed her hat-trick midway through the third quarter, this time low to the right.

In between, Emily Smith knocked home a loose ball from close range for 4-0 and it was six when Slattery converted with composure in front of goal from a Karri McMahon penalty corner.

When Mariah Williams was fouled in the act of shooting Kenny stepped up to convert from the penalty spot for 7-0.

Another close range follow-up, this time from Nanscawen, made it eight before captain Blyth scooped in following excellent work by Casey Sablowski, whose endeavours to keep the ball in play following a save by the Polish goalkeeper paid off.

The Hockeyroos face the hosts Belgium on Wednesday in their second match. The Belgians beat India 1-0 on Saturday in their opening match.


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Source: AAP


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