It was also the third meeting between the sides in under a month as the two teams had met twice in January at the Four Nations in Córdoba, where both teams won one match each.

After a quiet start, Britain started to take control and penned the South Koreans inside their own half.

Few clear-cut openings were made though as Britain looked for the breakthrough, with the first chance coming for Crista Cullen (pictured above, centre) from a Georgie Twigg penalty corner.

Her shot was saved by South Korean goalkeeper Jang Soo Li.

Alex Danson (pictured below) then ran in from the right before firing a decent effort wide from distance.

With 18 minutes gone, Danny Kerry's team finally got a breakthrough goal when they won two penalty corners in quick succession.

From the second penalty, with their top scorer Cullen off the pitch, Twigg instead opted to lay it off to captain Kate Walsh, whose shot appeared to be going in, but Twigg got the final touch ensuring it went into the net.

The goal opened the floodgates with Britain scoring twice more within minutes.


The goal came after superb play down the left by Helen Richardson, as she drew three opposing defenders close to goal before laying it into the path of Danson, who finished clinically.

Moments later Danson had her second and Britain's third goal, collecting a long ball, holding off two defenders and with her back to goal, struck a superb shot into the back of the net.

South Korea got one back before half time from their first real attack when a shot from distance was saved by Beth Storry, but she could only spill it into the path of Seonmi Park, whom she clattered into, conceding a penalty stroke.

Seon Ok Lee then fired home the penalty for South Korea, who almost scored another before half time, prevented by Storry who pulled off a superb stop from a fierce drive.

In the second half, the South Koreans took control as they looked to attack Britain more directly – penning Kerry's team into their own half for much of the opening period.

Despite the pressure, the next goal was Britain's.

From a penalty corner, Walsh played a precise pass into Richardson, who was left with the simple task of finishing from close range.

South Korea battled on and created chances, but fine goalkeeping from Storry kept Britain well on top seeing the game out to progress to the semi finals.

It was a highly impressive performance from Kerry's women, who never looked in danger of losing throughout the contest.

He was thrilled by the victory.

"In the first half we were supreme, cutting through the defence effortlessly," Kerry said.

"Korea pushed players high in the second half and we showed exceptional character to cope with the pressure."

Britain's semi-final will be against world number three Germany on Saturday night (February 4), with Argentina and reigning champions the Netherlands, who have met in the last two finals of the Champions Trophy, playing the other last four tie.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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