Hockey: Kiwis went for the win - and lost

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

The excitement was all too much for the comeback Kiwis.

The New Zealand women's hockey team should have kept their sticks glued to the ball to secure a draw after an unbelievable fightback against the world's No 2, the Netherlands, on Wednesday night.

But instead they went for the win - and lost.

The Dutch burst into tears and danced around the field - their Olympic chances kept alive with a 4-3 victory - while the Kiwis retreated to the dugout, heads lowered and arms folded.

The Olympics are by no means over for New Zealand. A win over the South Africans on Thursday would swing open the door to the six-team semifinals.

If they draw with South Africa, it means New Zealand's prospects are not entirely in their own hands. They will be at the mercy of the other results in the group.

All five teams in their pool can still fight their way into the three survival spots.

Until the final 10 minutes of the game, the Kiwis had been staring at a convincing defeat at two goals down.

When Moira Senior and Anna Lawrence evened the scores with two minutes to go, the New Zealanders should have kept the ball to themselves in their half. A draw would probably have been good enough to get them through.

"But the excitement got to them," Kiwi coach Jan Borren said. "They couldn't help it - they went for the win. It made the difference between a draw and a loss."

Two minutes to go and counting, Senior almost put the Kiwis in front - her diving reverse stick shot padded down at the last milli-second by the Netherlands' goalie Daphne Touw.

One minute left, and the New Zealand defence let themselves down, leaving Dutch players unmarked in a long corner - replacement Fleur van de Keift unchallenged as she scored from in front.

As the 15,000 crowd counted down the seconds, the Kiwis earned a penalty corner as the final hooter blew.

In their final attempt all 15 players, including goalie Irving, stood around the circle but Lawrence's shot was gobbled up by the Dutch defence.

On Thursday they must lift their spirits to beat a South African side who have the best penalty corners in the world.

The Dutch attacked furiously from the outset and within five minutes they were on the board, Macha van der Vaart whacking her shot into the top of the net.

Their second goal had controversy all over it.

New Zealand midfielder Skippy Hamahona slid along the backline trying to halt another Dutch assault, but the umpire ruled the Kiwi had put her body in the path of a sure goal.

Ageeth Boomgaart put away a straightforward stroke. New Zealand's penalty corners were a rare highlight in their game last night.

On the first attempt, Moira Senior's unhindered shot whistled past the right post. The second was spot on. Tina Bell-Kake slipped the ball across to Anna Lawrence, who fired it high into the goal.

The Netherlands took a 3-1 lead after halftime, when Susan van der Wielen volleyed the ball into the net.

Borren admitted afterwards he was then resigned to a loss and his philosophy was not to run them into the ground, so he rotated players from the bench, even taking off goalie Helen Clarke for Anne-Marie Irving.

Then the Kiwis dug in. Hamahona's free hit into the circle, deflected off a Dutch stick, ricocheted off the post and Senior scored from the rebound.

Lawrence again smashed a corner straight through the stunned Dutch defence to equal the score, where the coach thought it should have stayed.