Agustina Gorzelany of Argentina and Savannah Fitzpatrick of Australia battle for a loose ball on day eight of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Oi Hockey Stadium (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
Australia and the Netherlands took different paths to finish women's field hockey group play unbeaten and take the top seeds in the quarterfinals.
Netherlands 3, Germany 1: Facing fellow unbeaten Germany in the Group A finale, the reigning World Cup champions got first-quarter goals from Federique Malta and Lidewij Welten, gave up a penalty-corner goal to Sonja Zimmermann in the second quarter and clinched the game on another Malta goal in the fourth. German goalkeeper Julia Sonntag stopped six shots to keep the game close. MATCH STATS
Australia 2, Argentina 0: In the Group B finale, Australia beat Argentina in scintillating fashion, leaving it late to collect two goals in the final few minutes. Savannah Fitzpatrick scored with 11 minutes left and Emily Chalker added an insurance marker in the final minute to salt away a perfect 5-0 mark in group play. The two sides would meet again if both won quarterfinal matches. MATCH STATS
Group B: China's win over New Zealand is too late
China 3, New Zealand 2: China's women's field hockey team on Saturday got a late tie-breaking goal from Meiyu Liang against New Zealand on the way to improving its record in Pool B action at the Tokyo Olympics to 2-3. The Kiwis also finished 2-3 but earned the fourth and final quarterfinal slot from the group on a tiebreaker.
The match was scoreless after the first quarter, tied 1-1 at the half, and 2-2 heading into the fourth before Liang's dramatic score. MATCH STATS
Spain 4, Japan 1: Winless Japan led 1-0 after the first quarter, but Spain answered with four goals from four different players to run its record to 3-2 and claim second place in the group. Japan had lost its previous four games by one goal each. MATCH STATS
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Group A: South Africa gives India a scare
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India 4, South Africa 3: India needed this one, but winless South Africa refused to play to ease into the script in its final match of the Olympics. Vandaya Katariya gave India 1-0 and 2-1 leads before Neha Goyal delivered a third advantage, but South Africa answered in each quarter to leave it 3-3 after three.
Katariya completed her hat trick in the fourth quarter, and India slammed the door from there. MATCH STATS
Great Britain 2, Ireland 0: Great Britain sent its neighbor out of the competition with a comfortable win in which Ireland only managed two shots. Hannah Martin and Susannah Townsend had the goals as Great Britain clinched third place in the group. MATCH STATS
Quarterfinal matchups
All games on Monday:
Germany vs. Argentina
Australia vs. India
Netherlands vs. New Zealand
Spain vs. Great Britain
