Perth: The Indian women’s hockey team fought hard before going down 0-2 against Australia in the third game of its Down Under tour at the Perth Hockey Stadium here on Thursday.
Courtney Schonell (9th minute) opened the scoring for the hosts in the first quarter, before Grace Stewart (52nd) added a second goal in the final phase of the match to seal the contest.
The visitors had earlier lost 3-5 and 2-3 against Australia ‘A’ in the first two matches of the exposure trip.
This match was India’s first outing against Australia’s main team. From the onset, Australia pressed hard on India’s defence, winning an early penalty corner but the scoreline remained unchanged.
Australia eventually broke the deadlock in the ninth minute when Schonell found the back of the net to giveher team the lead.