Aussies clinch extra-time victory

HOCKEY: Australia clinched a place in the women's World Cup hockey final in dramatic fashion yesterday after a golden goal from Suzie Faulkner earned them a 1-0 extra-time victory over hosts Spain.

Faulkner lunged out to get a touch on a penalty corner shot from Angie Skirving a minute after the start of extra-time to ensure Australia a place in the final against the Netherlands.

"It was just a matter of who got the luck out there tonight and we got it," said Australia coach Frank Murray. "It was a hard, very tough game, but that's what you get in World Cup semi-finals."

Earlier five-time winners the Netherlands reached the final for the third time in a row, and the ninth time in total, after a comprehensive 3-1 victory over defending champions Argentina.

The Dutch got the better of the South Americans in a repeat of the 2002 final thanks to an opportunist goal from Sylvia Karres early in the first half and well-taken strikes from Miek van Geenhuizen and Kim Lammers in the second.

"We prepared for the match really well," said the Netherlands coach Marc Lammers. "The girls were marvellous and did everything we planned. Now we have a day to relax and recharge the batteries and then start thinking about the final on Sunday. We will be concentrating on the performance not the result."

It was stalemate after the regulation 70 minutes in the Australia-Spain match with both sides producing some brilliant defending to deny their opponents chances from a succession of penalty corner opportunities.

With the final whistle about to be blown the stadium was plunged into darkness as the floodlights failed and the game was delayed by 15 minutes.

Spain, making their first semi-final appearance, were unable to take advantage of two further penalty corner opportunities before the match went into extra time.

Within a minute of the restart it was Faulkner who broke the deadlock when she diverted the penalty corner into the net to ensure the two-times champions a fourth appearance in the final.

The other semi-final was a much more clear-cut affair with the Netherlands taking the lead in the 13th minute when Karres took her tally for the tournament to five.

Earlier Japan claimed a deserved 2-0 victory over England in one of the matches to decide the minor places and will now meet United States, who edged a 1-0 victory over Germany, in the play-off for fifth and sixth place.