New Zealand's Samantha Charlton. The Black Sticks face Korea today at 4:45pm.
New Zealand's Samantha Charlton. The Black Sticks face Korea today at 4:45pm.
Hello again. Well the final pool game against Ireland at the Hawke's Bay Festival of Hockey went our way and now our focus turns to today's quarterfinal against Korea.
Ireland certainly was a challenge for us on Tuesday night. We expected that they would start the game with lots ofintensity and energy and that is exactly what happened. To their credit I think they did bring greater intensity than we expected and it exposed the lacklustre way we started against them.
As the game wore on it felt as if we were more in control and our passing began to improve and, through the third and fourth quarter it felt as if we had gained control of the game. That greater precision with our passing created more chances in the attacking circle and resulted in goals for Anita Punt, Stacey Michelsen and Charlotte Harrison.
While Ireland led 1-nil for a long period of the game, there was no panic out on the field. Something that has improved over the last 18 months with this group of girls is that we have learnt to stay calm even if we are behind on the scoreboard early in the game. On Tuesday night we stayed composed and finally the goals came.
It was also nice to see Charlotte get on the scoreboard in her 200th game. I think she is the seventh New Zealand woman to notch up the milestone so not many have done that in the history of women's hockey in New Zealand. Charlotte is a very special member of this squad. She debuted at the age of 16 and has played for the Black Sticks for over 10 years and to achieve the milestone and score a goal was a very special moment for her.
Korea will be an interesting challenge for us in the quarterfinal. We last played and beat them in our first pool game at World League 4 in December last year. We know tonight's match is going to be tough even though Korea is yet to win a game at the Festival of Hockey. They do know how to play these crunch games and we expect a lot from them. They play with typical Asian flair and have the ability to sneak in behind the defensive line so we will be on our guard.
It was great to see such a large crowd at the final pool match on Tuesday night and we hope that will continue for the quarterfinal tonight. It is taking us a while to get away at the end of our games as the kids are lining up for a chat and an autograph. We love to oblige the kids as they are the future of our sport and it's nice to be able to have a word with them while we sign their autograph books.
Our quarterfinal is at 4.45pm this afternoon at the Regional Sports Park. The girls would love to see you there as a large crowd certainly helps lift our performance.
