Hockey World League Semifinal: Netherlands, South Korea Women Set up Title Contest

World champions The Netherlands outplayed Australia 5-1 to set up a title clash with South Korea on Saturday in the women's Hockey World League Semifinals at the KHC Dragons Stadium here.

Asian Games champions South Korea prevailed 4-2 in the shootout over New Zealand after their semifinal was tied 1-1 in regulation period.

Both goals came in open field action in the first half with Park Mi-hyun giving the Koreans the initial lead and Gemma Flynn equalizing for the Black Sticks.

New Zealand, who topped Pool B with an all-won record, will again play Australia in the bronze medal match tomorrow.

The Dutch girls gave world No. 2 Australia a masterclass on strategic hockey after some initial resistance, which was broken by Carlien Dirkse van den Heuvel in penalty corner action in the 14th minute.

A minute later, Dutch captain Maartje Paumen deflected a shot past Australian goalkeeper Rachael Lynch.

Australia forced two penalty corners, but Jodie Kenny could not reproduce her scoring spree of the preliminary round matches.

At the other end, Ginella Zerbo got into goal-scoring act in the 20th minute with a high deflection past the custodian.

Australia, silver medalists at the 2014 World Cup behind Netherlands, pulled one goal back through an opportunistic strike by Kathryn Slattery in the 30th minute.

Lidewij Welten gave the Australian goalkeeper no chance with a firm shot in the 45th minute and Willemijn Bos shot home from top of the circle in the 53rd to round off the scoring.