Catching Up On Hockey Action

Things are moving along at the field hockey event in Paris as the women wrapped up their quarterfinal games on Monday evening while the men got their semifinal games completed on Tuesday. Several countries had both their men's and women's teams playing in the medal rounds, so there was a chance at bringing home gold medals in both events for those countries. Keep an eye on Yibbi Jensen of the Netherlands as she leads the women's tournament with seven goals while India's Harmanpreet Singh had seven goals as his team advanced to the semifinals. Both of those players could be key in their teams advancing deeper into the tournament with semifinal berths on the line for the women and medal-placement games for the men on the schedule, so let's find out who did what in Paris, France!

WOMEN'S QUARTERFINALS

AUSTRALIA vs. CHINA: We'll start with Australia and China where the Australians got the scoring started just ten minutes in when Alice Arnott scored on a penalty corner rebound. One minute later, things were evened up at 1-1 after Ma Ning found the net on a penalty corner. Dan Wen made it a 2-1 game before halftime in the 25th minute, and China may have surprised the top team in Pool B through the opening half with their relentless play.

Zhong Jiaqi put the Chinese women up by a pair of goals when she potted a rebound in the 35th minute, but Tatum Stewart would cut the deficit to one for Australia when she scored in the 45th minute. China mounted an impressive defensive display in the final quarter as they shut down Australia at every turn, and the first upset of the day went to China as they defeated the Australians by a 3-2 score.

ARGENTINA vs. GERMANY: A gritty battle started this game as neither side was willing to concede an inch without putting up a fight. Despite a few opportunities for either side, we'd hit the halftime break still tied at 0-0. In fact, we'd have play through to the final three minutes of the game before Germany’s Viktoria Huse got tangled up with the Argentinian netminder, resulting in a penalty stroke. She would convert to put Germany up 1-0, but we weren't done there. Eugenia Trinchinetti tied the game on a penalty corner in the 59th minute, and this game would head to a shootout with the score standing at a 1-1 count.

After the opening shooters were denied on the first attempts, Germany's Huse would be denied on her attempt while Argentina's Julieta Jankunas scored to put the Argentinians ahead. Jette Fleschütz was also denied on her penalty stroke, and Argentina would put all the pressure on Germany after Zoe Diaz scored to make it 2-0 in the shootout. Argentinian netminder Cristina Cosentino would deny Sonja Zimmermann on her attempt, and Argentina would advance on that 2-0 shootout score with Germany only having one shooter left.

NETHERLANDS vs. GREAT BRITAIN: The 2020 gold medalists didn't waste any time in this one as Xan de Waard put the Dutch women up 1-0 just 45 seconds into the match. Hannah French would even the game in the 20th minute off a penalty corner, but the Dutch squad went into the break up 2-1 after Luna Fokke found the net in the final minute of the first half.

The Oranje would continue their possession game as they controlled the third quarter, but couldn't find the net. Fokke would score in the 46th minute, though, to put the Dutch up 3-1, and they simply ran the clock out on the British with their ball control and steady defence. The Netherlands will advance to the semifinal on Wednesday with the 3-1 win over Great Britain.

BELGIUM vs. SPAIN: Another closely-contested match through the first half saw few scoring opportunities given and a total of zero goals scored as the two nations went into halftime still tied at 0-0. The third quarter of the game continued that trend as it was 0-0 after 45 minutes, but the Belgians would finally break the stalemate when Delphine-Daphne Marien flicked home a ball from the top of the circle off a gorgeous passing sequence at the 46th minute.

Three minutes later, a penalty corner for the Belgian women saw Charlotte Englebert on the receiving end of the play as she scored to make it 2-0. That's how this one would finish as the Belgians advance past Spain on that 2-0 result.

With those results in the books, the Netherlands will face Argentina in one semifinal match while Belgium and China will meet in the second semifinal game as those four nations will now play for medals!

MEN'S SEMIFINALS

NETHERLANDS vs. SPAIN: On paper, this looked like a mismatch, but the Spanish side showed they weren't going to let world rankings determine how they played as they were the more aggressive team through the first half. However, the Dutch men were on their game when they found chances as Jip Janssen scored on a penalty corner in the 12th minute to give Netherlands the 1-0 lead in the first quarter. Thierry Brinkman would double the lead at the 20th minute when he corralled a rebound and went high for the 2-0 lead that carried into the halftime break.

Thijs van Dam would make it a three-goal lead with his marker at the 32nd minute, and the Dutch would claim goals in all four quarters after Duco Telgenkamp scored in the 50th minute. That four-goal lead was more than enough for the Dutch on this day as the Netherlands advance to the gold medal game with a 4-0 over Spain who will play for the bronze medal.

GERMANY vs. INDIA: These two teams met for the bronze medal in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics where India claimed victory. Would we see that happen again? It appeared to start that way when Harmanpreet Singh fired a shot from the edge of the circle off a penalty corner in the seventh minute that went off the German goalie and into the net, giving India the 1-0 lead.

Germany weathered that storm, though, as they cleaned up their game, and it paid off in the second quarter when Gonzalo Peillat scored off a penalty corner in the 18th minute to make it 1-1. And Germany would take the lead into the halftime break after Christopher Rühr's penalty stroke in the 27th minute found the netting for the 2-1 lead.

India would square the game up at 2-2 off a penalty corner converted by Sukhjeet Singh in the 36th minute, and we'd enter the fourth quarter with that 2-2 score still holding. The action went up and down the pitch before Marco Miltkau hammered a ball from the right side of the circle and into the net in the 54th minute to put the Germans up 3-2! Despite trying everything they could to find an equalizer, India would see the time run out on them as Germany advanced to the gold medal game with their 3-2 victory.

As a result of the games, we know that the Netherlands will play Germany in a rematch of the 2012 London Olympic Games final where Germany claimed a 2-1 win. The bronze medal match will see India and Spain with India looking to claim their second-straight bronze medal while Spain looks for a podium finish in men's field hockey for the first time since 2008. Those should be exciting matches!

More results coming up this week on HBIC as we get closer to seeing which nations stand atop the podiums for men's and women's field hockey. The action has been fantastic so far, and we have the biggest matches yet to come which should feature some of the best hockey seen this summer. Make sure you check your local listings for the gold medal and bronze medal matches in both tournaments!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the pitch!