Members of Parkes Hockey gathered on Saturday night to cheer on local girl Mariah Williams and the Hockeyroos in their last pool game against Spain.
Mariah and the Hockeyroos maintained an unbeatable run throughout their pool games but fell short in their quarter final against China resulting in a 2-3 loss.
This is the third straight exit the Hockeyroos have had in the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games. This ranks Australia fifth in the 2024 Paris Olympics and is the fifth time the Hockeyroos have placed fifth at the Olympics over the last six games.
Despite their devastating loss against China the team were unbeatable in their pool games resulting in four wins and one draw. The team won against South Africa 2-1, Great Britain 4-0 and the United States 3-0.
After recording these three wins and earning a spot in the quarter finals the team had the confidence to go up against world ranked number two side, Argentina.
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The game saw Argentina leading 2-0 at half time but when the Hockeyroos returned to the pitch they were determined to even the score ending the third quarter 2 all.
The world number two side did not like this upset, scoring again with 10 minutes remaining.
With seconds remaining the Hockeyroos earnt a penalty corner in a last attempt to save their unbeatable run. Mariah levelled the score which secured Australia the top spot in Pool B.
The team then went on to play their last pool game against Spain winning 3-1.
Mariah has been an asset to the Hockeyroos side being a major assist in some very valuable goals for the team during their Olympic campaign.
In their first match of the Olympics against South Africa, Mariah had a fantastic run 15 seconds into the second quarter passing to teammate Steph Kershaw who drove the baseline before striking with a backhand tomahawk.
Grace Steward then beat the keeper with a deflection to level the score and giving the team the confidence to then go on and win the game.
Mariah had many attempts on goal in their match against the United States but was unlucky not to have any results. Mariah was also penalised with a green card in this match.
In the Hockeyroos' last pool match against Spain, Mariah was off to a flying start like she could hear the Parkes hockey clubhouse from Paris.
In the first two minutes of the match Mariah beat two defenders and sent a flying cross to striker Alice Arnott who opened the scoring.
With less than five minutes remaining in the game the score was 2-1 and the Hockeyroos knew they had to win by two points in order to stay on top of their pool ladder.
By claiming the top spot in their pool the Hockeyroos would draw a more favourable opponent out of Pool A.
Both teams were short one player due to yellow cards. Spain decided to take their goalie off and add another field player in hopes they would be able to level the score.
However, the Hockeyroos saw the opportunity to score an open goal and took it, claiming their third goal of the game and securing their position on the pool ladder.
"I feel like the heavens opened from above when Spain took off their keeper," Mariah Williams said in an interview post-match.
Devastation then struck the Hockeyroos in their quarter-final match against China after multiple controversial calls during the match.
The Hockeyroos were off to an amazing start with the Australian team opening the scoring in the 10th minute off a penalty corner.
China responded a minute later, levelling the score.
The Hockeyroos' Olympic campaign was on the line in the third quarter as China skilfully scored in the second quarter and another in the third quarter off a rebound shot from a penalty corner.
The Hockeyroos then earnt three penalty corners in the final minutes of the third quarter and were lucky to achieve a result off of the third penalty corner.
In the first minutes of the fourth quarter the Australian team knew they had to score again to keep their Olympic dreams alive putting enormous pressure on the Chinese team.
The Australian team then earnt four consecutive penalty corners but unfortunately could not find the back of the net resulting in a devastating loss of 3-2.
Parkes hockey and the whole Parkes community are immensely proud of Mariah and her achievements over the course of her 2024 Olympic campaign and can't wait to see her back in action.
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