FIH Hockey Pro League Standings as of April 13

With a handful of postponements, the women's side of the 2021-21 FIH Hockey Pro League added two more games in the month of April. May is set to welcome another 9 matches, all taking place in Europe.

Here's a look where the women's competing countries stand.

	0	-	0
	3	SO	2

April 3, 2021

The  contest between Argentina and Germany was a cagey affair, with both teams struggling to create clear-cut goal-scoring opportunities in the opening two periods. The match opened up in the third and fourth quarters, with Argentina captain Delfina Merino having a goal ruled out before Germany’s Nike Lorenz missed a glorious chance to win the game from the penalty spot late on.
A 0-0 draw ensured that both teams would take a point from the contest, but it was the hosts who would steal the bonus point. Merino scored the decisive goal, but it was the goalkeeping of debutant Clara Baberi – who replaced regular shot-stopper Belen Succi for the shootout – that proved invaluable. Baberi conceded just twice from Germany’s five attempts, setting things up perfectly for the vastly experienced Merino to seal additional point as Las Leonas strengthened their grip on second place in the FIH Hockey Pro League standings.
"It was a hard game”, said Argentina’s Julieta Jankunas, who was named Player of the Match. “We are very happy that we won. Germany are a really good team, so we kept two points and are now waiting for tomorrow to win again."
Germany's Nike Lorenz said: "I think we definitely have to get more results in the circle. Our defense was really good I think, so we need to keep working like that and just score some goals."

3

-

1

April 4, 2021

Germany’s bounced back from Saturday’s shootout defeat against Argentina by recording a superb 3-1 triumph on Sunday. Charlotte Stapenhorst’s cool finish just three minutes into the contest proved to be the perfect start, with Pauline Heinz doubling the advantage for Die Danas ahead of half time. The Europeans made the perfect start to the third quarter by scoring from their first attack, with Pia Maertens firing home on the turn to establish an unassailable lead before Agustina Gorzelany netted what proved to be a consolation goal nine minutes from time.
Argentina remain second in the FIH Hockey Pro League standings, although now find themselves some ten points behind table-toppers the Netherlands having played the same number of games. Germany are fifth in the League, having claimed 10 points from their six matches.
"I think scoring with our first chance of the second half was really helpful”, commented Germany goal-scorer Stapenhorst, who was named Player of the Match. “Even being 3-0 up against Argentina, it was still really, really intense, especially in the last quarter. We are just really happy that we came out on top."
Argentina captain Delfina Merino said: "I think as a team you always have things to improve. It is a task that, day by day, we work on different things. I think that the pressure, the defense, the penalty corners; there are a lot of things that we can work on. We will try to do it day by day."

Per the FIH:

The following points will be awarded for each match:

• Three (3) points to the winner in normal time
• One (1) point to the winner of a shootout following a draw plus one (1) bonus point, making a total of two (2) points
• One (1) point to the loser of the shootout, in the event of a draw
• No points to the loser of a match in normal time

During the season up until the Grand Final, teams will be ranked in the FIH Pro League table by the percentage of points gained relative to the maximum number possible to have attained at any given time.

For example, a team who have played six matches can achieve a maximum of 18 points from winning all six matches. If they have achieved 9 points after six matches, they will be ranked in the league table based on a score of 50%. The aim of this system is to more easily illustrate team performances at the times in the season when different teams have played significantly different numbers of matches.