WOMEN’S JUNIOR WORLD CUP KICKS OFF

Our U21 Women’s Junior World campaign kicks off overnight as they face England in Santiago, Chile at 2am NZT.

Having been in Chile for nearly a week, the team has been acclimatising and training, including practice matches against Canada and the Netherlands.

Head Coach Mitch Hayde said it was exciting for the girls to be in the stadium where they’re playing, “it's got a lot to offer. It’s got a large grandstand and a brand new pitch. The girls were quite excited to explore everything. That's been the highlight so far. We've had two games and two training sessions. Adjusting to the 14-hour time difference from New Zealand took a few days, but we're slowly getting used to it.”

"Then with the game tomorrow, England is currently ranked 4th in the world for Under 21, so we're anticipating a strong challenge. But they employ a similar style of hockey to us so we're fairly confident that we can give them good competition.”

Captain Hannah Cotter is raring to go and excited to take the lessons from the two practice matches into tomorrow’s opener.

"The game against the Dutch was tough, but it provided numerous learning opportunities. As a team, we haven't had much experience playing international hockey together, which makes it quite exciting. We believe we're a strong team with the potential to perform well.

“I think we've come to realise our capabilities. Before this, we weren't entirely sure how we measured up against other teams, given our limited international exposure - having only faced Australia last year, and some of the girls having played very few games. Now, we understand that we're a goodteam and have the potential for success when we play at our best."

The matches can be watched through the FIH’s watch.hockey platform with an event pass costing 10USD.