| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born | (1992-05-05)5 May 1992 (age 33)[1] | ||
| Height | 5 ft 5 in (165 cm) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2005–2011 | St. Andrew's College | ||
| Senior career | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| 200x–2013 | Hermes | ||
| 2012 | →Syracuse Orange field hockey | ||
| 2013–2017 | UCD Ladies | ||
| 2017– | Pembroke Wanderers | ||
| National team | |||
| Years | Team | Caps | Goals |
| 2011– | Ireland | 140+ | |
Medal record | |||
Gillian Pinder (born 5 May 1992) is anIreland women's field hockey international. She was a member of the Ireland team that played in the2018 Women's Hockey World Cup final. Pinder has also wonIrish Senior Cup andWomen's Irish Hockey League titles withUCD.
Pinder is the daughter of Alan and Mary Pinder. Her father, Alan, is originally fromMullingar.[2]Her sister, Laura, is also a field hockey player and has played forHermes-Monkstown in theWomen's Irish Hockey League and theEuroHockey Club Champions Cup .[3][4][5] Pinder was educated atSt. Andrew's College,Syracuse University andUniversity College Dublin.[6][7][8] She graduated from UCD with a Bachelor of Business and Law.[9][10][11]
Pinder playedfield hockey forSt. Andrew's College in a team that also included her sister, Laura andChloe Watkins. She played in threeLeinster Schoolgirls' Senior Cup finals, regularly playing against teams that included futureIreland teammates. In the 2007 final, Pinder and Watkins lost 5–0 to anAlexandra College team that featuredNicola Evans.[12] In the 2009 final St. Andrew's faced Loreto, Beaufort andHannah Matthews. This time St. Andrew's won 2–0 after extra time.[13][14][15] In the 2010 final Pinder scored the opening goal in a 2–0 win. Watkins captained St. Andrew's as they defeated an Alexandra College team that featuredDeirdre Duke andEmily Beatty.[16] In 2010 Pinder and Watkins were also members of the St. Andrew's College team that won the Kate Russell All-Ireland Schoolgirls Championship, defeatingColáiste Iognáid, Galway 3–1 in the final.[7][8][17] On 10 September 2018, after their success at theWomen's Hockey World Cup, Watkins and Pinder returned to St. Andrew's to share their experience with the current students at St. Andrew's.[18][19] Pinder also began managing the hockey programme at St. Andrew's.[20][21]
In 2008–09 Pinder together withNicola Evans,Anna O'Flanagan andChloe Watkins, was a member of theHermes team that were runners up in the inauguralWomen's Irish Hockey League season.[22] Pinder also played for Hermes in the 2010–11Irish Senior Cup final as Hermes lost 3–1 toPegasus. Her teammates on this occasion included her sister, Laura,Deirdre Duke and Anna O'Flanagan.[23][24][25] In 2012, along withMary Goode andAudrey O'Flynn, Pinder was a member of the Hermes team that won the Women's EuroHockey Club Champion's Challenge I, defeating Lille Metropole 3–1 in the final.[26]
In 2012 Pinder attendedSyracuse University on a hockey scholarship.[21] She subsequently helpedSyracuse Orange win the 2012Big East Regular Season.[27][28] She also helped Syracuse reach the2012 NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship semi-finals.[7][8] At Syracuse, together with Emma Russell and Liz McInerney, Pinder formed a forward line that featured three futureIreland internationals.[29][30]
Pinder started playing forUCD in 2013.[31] She subsequently scored for UCD on herWomen's Irish Hockey League debut against her former team,Hermes.[32] In 2013–14, together withNicola Evans,Anna O'Flanagan,Katie Mullan,Emily Beatty andDeirdre Duke she was a member of the UCD team that defeatedPembroke Wanderers 2–0 in theIrish Senior Cup final.[33] In the same season she helped UCD win their first Women's Irish Hockey League title.[34][35] Pinder also played for UCD in the2015 EuroHockey Club Champions Cup.[36] In 2016–17 she won a second Irish Senior Cup with UCD when, together withElena Tice, Katie Mullan and Deirdre Duke, she was a member of the UCD team that defeatedCork Harlequins 1–0 in the final.[37][38][39] The 2016–17 season also saw Pinder help UCD win their second Women's Irish Hockey League title.[7][8] UCD and Pinder subsequently completed a national treble when they also won theEY Champions Trophy after defeatingHermes-Monkstown in apenalty shoot-out.[3][40][41]
The 2017–18 season saw Pinder play forPembroke Wanderers in theWomen's Irish Hockey League. Her teammates at Wanderers includedEmily Beatty.[42][43][44][45][46]
Pinder representedIreland at Under-16, Under-18 and Under-21 levels before making her senior debut.[28] She made her senior international debut on 24 April 2011 againstFrance.[6][8] In March 2015 Pinder was a member of the Ireland team that won a2014–15 Women's FIH Hockey World League Round 2 tournament hosted inDublin, defeatingCanada in the final after apenalty shoot-out.[47][48] She was also a member of the Ireland team that won the2015 Women's EuroHockey Championship II, defeating theCzech Republic 5–0 in the final.[49] In January 2017 she was also a member of the Ireland team that won a2016–17 Women's FIH Hockey World League Round 2 tournament inKuala Lumpur, defeatingMalaysia 3–0 in the final.[50] On 12 July 2017 in the2016–17 Women's FIH Hockey World League Semifinals she scored a "thunderbolt" of a goal againstPoland, which was described as one of the highlights of Ireland's2018 Women's Hockey World Cup qualification campaign.[7][8][51][52]
Pinder represented Ireland at the2018 Women's Hockey World Cup and was a prominent member of the team that won the silver medal.[53][54][55] She featured in all of Ireland's games throughout the tournament, including the pool games against theUnited States,[56]India,[57] andEngland,[58] the quarter-final against India,[59] the semi-final againstSpain[60] and the final against theNetherlands.[61] In the semi-final against Spain, Pinder scored twice in thepenalty shoot-out. After successfully converting the sudden death penalty, she sent Ireland through to the final.[20][21][62][63][64][65]
Together withLizzie Colvin,Nicola Evans,Anna O'Flanagan andDeirdre Duke, Pinder was one of five lawyers in the Ireland squad at the2018 Women's Hockey World Cup.[11]
