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Nearing the summit: Georgie Parker and Emily Hurtz of the Hockeyroos after losing the final. Photo: Reuters
THE HAGUE: The Hockeyroos believe the world No.1 ranking is within their reach they have bridged the gap with the Netherlands, despite going down 2-0 in the World Cup final on Saturday.
The Australian women were valiant, but ultimately outclassed by a relentless Dutch outfit spurred on by a 15,000-strong partisan crowd in The Hague.
It followed a defeat by the same margin in the group stages and confirmed the Dutch team's place as the world's best - but Australia coach Adam Commens believes the gap is narrowing quickly and he is optimistic his side could be on top by the time the 2016 Olympic Games roll around.
Australia's goalkeeper Rachael Lynch, left, slides to block a shot on goal. The Dutch were awarded a penalty stroke. Photo: AP
Commens, who earned 143 caps for the Kookaburras, compared the Hockeyroos current situation to that which Australia's men faced in the early 2000s.
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The Kookaburras finished second in the 2002 World Cup behind Germany, but bounced back to claim gold in Athens two years later.
"The progression that the Kookaburras made at that time, I think we're able to emulate that with the Hockeyroos," Commens said.
World champions: The Dutch celebrate their victory. Photo: Reuters
"I think it will be a tough ask.
"They obviously have a large pool of talent coming through and a good group of coaching staff.
"It will be difficult. But I think it's not unsurmountable."
Arriving in Holland ranked fourth in the world, Australia cemented their place among the top teams once again by claiming silver and rising to second in the rankings.
It is their best result in a major tournament since earning silver in the 2009 Champions Trophy.
And Commens says the age of his group, with just a handful of players over 25, and their potential for improvement is what fuels his belief in the two years ahead.
"The gap has been closed," he said.
His thoughts were reflected by midfield star Casey Eastham, who said the past 18 months had been spent closing in on the Dutch.
"We knew the Dutch were going to be the ones to beat come World Cup, so that was our goal, to do everything we could to close the gap on that," she told AAP.
"We've done that quite well. We know the Rio Olympics is the long-term goal for us.
"We've got another couple of years to go with that and we'll keep working with the squad we've got."
For the moment, however, the Dutch are still a class above every other opponent on the planet and they showed that on Saturday.
Australia did well to restrict the winning margin to just two goals - an achievement for which goalkeeper Rachael Lynch deserves enormous credit.
The 27-year-old, who was named goalie of the tournament, made eight saves in the final and was a colossus before the net.
She stood little chance with the opening goal of the match, a penalty stroke taken by Dutch captain Maartje Paumen, and could scarcely have done more to prevent their second either after spectacularly deflecting one attempt by Kim Lammers, only to have the ball rebound back into the path of the Dutch forward for a second attempt.
Those first half goals were enough to secure a seventh World Cup for the Dutch.
Australia will now begin preparations for next month's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where they are the two-time defending gold medal winners.
Australia's men play for World Cup gold, also against the Dutch, on Sunday.
AAP
In  at , ,  defeated the Netherlands to win the  yesterday, and was defeated by the Netherlands in the  on Saturday. Never before have the same two countries played in both Hockey World Cup finals in a single year.


In the men's final, the , known as the Kookaburras and coached by , successfully defended the World Cup they won back in 2010 with a 6–1 win over the , which was playing in its first final since 1998. 

The Netherlands put the Kookaburras on the back foot when  scored the first goal. In five consecutive games in the series the Australians had scored their first goal in the first seven minutes. Australia's  equalised with a goal from a . Another goal by  gave the Kookaburras a 2–1 lead at the half time break. Four more goals in the second half, including one by 321-game veteran , put the result beyond doubt.

The story was very different in the women's competition, where the , known as the Hockeyroos, were the underdogs, having not made a final in the World Cup or the  since 2006. They made this final only after defeating the  in a semi-final  after a 2–2 draw in which the teams alternated goals, each Australian goal followed by a US goal by . Whereas, the Netherlands team had scored 21 goals in the tournament up to this point, while only conceding one, and had not been beaten by Australia since 1998. 

Netherlands captain  scored the first goal of the match from a , giving the Netherlands team their seventh Hockey World Cup win.  then made it 2–0.  Neither side was able to score in the second half, but it was not for want of trying, and Australian goal keeper  ended up with a total of eight saves.

 defeated the United States 2–1 in the women's bronze medal game.