Black Sticks down Argentina 1-0

Petrea Webster provided a key touch in her 100th women's hockey international as New Zealand beat Argentina 1-0 in Gisborne.

In the first of two warm-up games ahead of the Hawke's Bay Cup tournament starting later this week, the Black Sticks deservedly tasted success against their higher-ranked foe on Tuesday.

World No.4 New Zealand created the better chances against the third-ranked Argentina and were rewarded with a deflected goal to Olivia Merry early in the fourth quarter.

Argentina questioned the goal, believing Merry hadn't got her stick to the ball but officials ruled the goal should stand.

The assist came from Webster, who celebrated her milestone game with a lively performance.

New Zealand committed a number of turnovers but Webster didn't expect coach Mark Hager would be too critical of that.

"He's happy as long as we're going forwards, he doesn't want us going backwards," she said.

"We were quite aggressive and went forward with the ball, which is how we play.

"And it's good they didn't get any chances, to keep a clean sheet was awesome."

The result follows New Zealand's 3-2 win over South Korea and 1-0 loss to Japan, both in Auckland over the weekend.

All teams will be involved in the eight-nation Hawke's Bay Cup starting in Hastings on Saturday.

New Zealand's last hitout before that is against Argentina in Gisborne again on Wednesday.

NZN

Leave a Reply