TAMWORTH’S Kate Jenner will play at her second World Cup later this month and could bring up her ton while she’s there.
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The defender was this week named in the 18-strong squad for the tournament in The Hague where the Hockeyroos will be looking to improve on their fifth finish in 2010.
Jenner was part of that squad as well and is one of seven backing up from Argentina and nine from the 2012 Olympic games.
The Hockeyroos will depart for Europe on Monday week and will first play in a four nations tournament against England, Japan and Germany in Bremen.
They then have a warm-up game against Belgium in Antwerp before arriving in The Hague for final preparations, including three unofficial practice matches against Argentina, China and USA.
Jenner sits on 91 caps heading into the World Cup and, with the Hockeyroos playing a minumum of nine games (including the official practice games), she could notch up 100.
The Hockeyroos go into the competition on the back of impressive progress over the past 12 months.
Gold medal victories at the Oceania Cup and World League Semi Final tournaments, and a silver medal finish at the World League Finals in Argentina last November have helped the Australian women to rise to fourth in the world rankings.
“We feel this is our strongest squad based on current form,” coach Adam Commens said.
“While a couple of our group – Teneal Attard and Georgie Parker – were unavailable to us during the recent Hawkes Bay tournament in New Zealand due to injury, their strong past performances warranted their inclusion.”
Also included is Emily Hurtz. The 24-year-old was a member of the side that qualified for the World Cup by winning the World League Semi Final tournament in London last June.
“Emily Hurtz is selected on the back of a strong showing on tour with us in South Africa in January and having performed well during the World League Semi Final,” Commens said.
“That form has been backed up by a good training block here in Perth over the past couple of weeks.”
The Hockeyroos’ opening match of the World Cup is against Korea on May 31.
They’ve also got Japan, Belguim, the Netherlands and New Zealand in their pool.
