Ireland 0
Germany 3 (N Lorenz, C Stapenhorst, S Zimmerman)
Women’s Hockey World Cup – Pool A
IRELAND WERE UNABLE to summon the victory required to reach the knockout stages of the women’s World Cup and must now regroup for the classification matches which start next Sunday in Amsterdam.
Coming into the tie, Ireland required a three-goal victory to be guaranteed a place in the knock-out stages while anything other than a win would send them into the 9th to 16th place playoffs.
And while they put in a performance full of endeavour and fight, Germany’s accuracy yielded goals from Nike Lorenz in the first half and a close-range killer from Charlotte Stapenhorst. Sonja Zimmerman completed the win from a 57th minute penalty stroke.
In a lively start, Katie Mullan’s strong running caused Germany plenty of discomfort and a lovely slip pass through from Deirdre Duke gave her a strong shooting opportunity. She cracked goalwards but Nathalie Kubalski calmly batted it away.
Germany, meanwhile, were working the ball through their star turn Nike Lorenz who pulled the strings for Elisa Gräve to first a dangerous shot which Ayeisha McFerran blocked.
Lorenz again was the creator for Charlotte Stapenhorst’s sharp chance, McFerran again getting a crucial pad on it.
And the world number four side took the lead in the 23rd minute from a clever switch to the left where Lorenz was on hand to flick across goal and find the net.
The Green Army stepped up quickly, Katie McKee and Michelle Carey both firing efforts on goal before the main break and they carried the momentum into the second half, winning their first penalty corner after the resumption.
Mullan’s through pass was inches from getting the perfect connection from Naomi Carroll but they were rocked once more in the 35th minute. Kira Horn’s driving run put Ireland on the back foot and while Sarah McAuley got a vital intervention, Stapenhorst pounced on the loose ball to sweep into the net.
Needing a huge comeback, they continued to make inroads with Mullan’s pass just evading a final touch from Naomi Carroll. And Sean Dancer threw caution to the wind in the closing quarter, swapping out goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran for an extra outfielder.
It led to Zara Malseed drawing the best save of the day from Kubalski, diving full length to repel the shot on the turn.
They bravely kept out two penalty corners with no recognised goalkeeper but Germany did get eventually another when Sonja Zimmerman netted a penalty stroke after Sarah McAuley blocked a shot on the empty goal with her body.
Lorenz had another stroke chance with 20 seconds to go but McFerran produced a magnificent save down low to limit the damage to three.
It means Ireland will now play their next fixture on Sunday with the opponent to be confirmed on Friday.
Ireland: A McFerran, R Upton, L Tice, E Curran, H McLoughlin, M Carey, C Perdue, S Hawkshaw, K Mullan, N Carroll, D Duke
Subs: S McAuley, Z Malseed, S Torrans, C Beggs, K McKee, C Hamill, L Murphy
Germany: N Kubalski, K Horn, A Wortmann, N Lorenz, A Schröder, L Michell, C Stapenhorst, S Zimmermann, C Pieper, V Huse, H Granitzki
Subs: S Oruz, E Gräve, P Heinz, P Maertens, L Weidemann, B Wenzel, J Sonntag
Umpires: M Giddens (USA), A Rostron (RSA).
