Pippa Hayward (right) has called time on her international career after the Black Sticks' Commonwealth Games success. Photo / Getty
New Zealand's gold medal-winning Commonwealth Games women's hockey team have lost their first player to retirement.
Canterbury midfielder Pippa Hayward is hanging up her stick after helping the Black Sticks to the Games title on the Gold Coast.
Hayward, 27, played 158 tests for the Black Sticks and while pushing
on towards the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020 must have been tempting, she has chosen an ideal time to step away and move on with the next stage of her life.
She has two papers left to finish her law and arts degrees and knows the time is right.
An industrious midfielder who covered plenty of ground at both ends of the field, Hayward scored the first of her 12 goals against Australia in 2014 and the last against India last year.
