Helen, 34, scored a penalty stroke in the shoot-out before Hollie Webb sealed the historic victory.
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Kate and Helen, 34, married in 2013 and now that their worldwide careers are over, they will move to the Netherlands to take up relatively lucrative club contracts.
And veteran Maartje Paumen rounded Hinch to fire the Netherlands in front.
Cullen saw a penalty corner shot well saved, but Danson reacted sharply and forced home the rebound.
Hinch was on hand to make a string of fine saves as the Dutch threat grew, and eventually she was beaten by Kitty van Male and Paumen. The passion and power of Danny Kerry’s warriors levelled the contest.
She helped Great Britain clinch gold at last year’s EuroHockey Championships. “It’s all set up for the flawless final”. The defence creaked under pressure but some courageous play by Laura Unsworth held the orange tide at bay.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Britain was thoroughly outplayed, yet weathered everything the star-studded Netherlands team could muster.
And after a scramble near the line Nicola White stabbed in an equaliser.
“I’ve seen it so many times in sport”.
Maddie Hinch against Joyce Sombroek: Two of the best goalkeepers in the world, and the top two performers in this Olympic tournament.
Both sides pushed for what would’ve been a victor but it wasn’t to be as Hinch denied four penalties before Webb’s golden moment. Despite the noise from the Dutch fans Helen Richardson-Walsh showed nerves of steel to fire home.
Webb, who was a spectator when Britain won London 2012 bronze, imagined she was in a little corner of Berkshire when she stepped up.
Lisa Altenburg, who was responsible for missing one of Germany’s four shoot-out attempts, said: “My penalty shot wasn’t that good, so in the end it’s shit”. “We all just keep looking at each other and going what happened, what on earth just happened?” The Dutch are a fantastic side.
“We definitely back ourselves in the shoot-out”.
“Goalkeeping has its highs and lows”, Hinch said.
And after helping guarantee at least silver in Britain’s most successful-ever overseas Olympics, she can also be expecting a hero’s welcome on her return.
“I just narrowed it down to one plan for each player, then I go out and execute that and hope it will work – and thankfully it did all four times in the shootout”.
“They’ve never liked playing against us”, said Lily Owsley, the GB forward.
“Today I just knew we would come away with a win”.
“We’ve now gone unbeaten through an Olympic tournament, which is unreal”.
Britain finally won their first penalty corner midway through the final quarter. We knew the Dutch would have their moments.
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“Two years ago we went through some really hard times as a squad and we pulled together and we said we wanted to be the difference, create history and inspire the future – and we have done that tonight”.
