ORANGE’S Edwina Bone has mixed feelings about her Hockeyroos’ second place finish at the Hockey World Cup.
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On one hand, she missed her first chance to earn a World Cup gold medal.
On the other, she was lucky enough to have “the experience of a lifetime” and play on one of hockey’s biggest stages.
“It’s somewhat bittersweet,” she said.
“It’s disappointing, but at the same time we threw everything at the best team in the world and it didn’t come off.
“We’re very proud of our effort, and it was an experience I’ll never forget.
“Getting to play in a World Cup, and then make the final was unbelievable. Playing in front of 15,000 people, plenty of them supporting us, was amazing.
“When I became a part of the Hockeyroos set up I did set the World Cup as a goal, and I knew it was possible. I just needed to keep playing well and doing my job, I obviously did something right in the lead up.”
Bone sparkled in the defensive line throughout the green and golds’ campaign and said her fingers were crossed the effort was enough to earn her a Commonwealth Games squad position.
“I was happy with my performance and the coaches said they were too,” she said.
“So hopefully I’ve done enough to get named for the Commonwealth Games next month. You never feel comfortable at this level with all the turnover of players, but I feel like I’m playing well.”
The Hockeyroos’ 2014 Commonwealth Games squad will be named early next week.
Bone said whether she was in Glasgow or not, a gold medal was the goal.
“We’re number two in the world now, so we’ll be entering that competition as the highest ranked team,” she said.
“I think winning is going to be the expectation, but there will be a lot of very good sides there. New Zealand are going, we drew with them at the World Cup, England will be looking to redeem themselves in front of basically their home crowd.
“It’ll be a tough slog.”
Bone said the squad would enjoy time off after the Commonwealth Games and welcomed the prospect.
“I’m just looking forward to some time off,” she said.
“After the Commonwealth Games my partner and I are going around Europe, hopefully if I get the time I can get back to Orange.”