Hockey: Solid start in opener

New Zealand's Laura Douglas. Photo / Supplied

The New Zealand women's team started their busy summer of international matches with an encouraging 4-1 win against South Korea in Auckland yesterday.

The home side opened the scoring after 30 minutes with Samantha Harrison capitalising on some handy stick work from Gemma Flynn to lash home a loose ball.

Two minutes later, Clarissa Eshuis converted New Zealand's second penalty corner of the match to lead 2-0 at the break.

The visitors narrowed the gap after the resumption through Jong Eun Kim, but soon after Cathryn Finlayson extended the Black Sticks' lead with an exceptional shot on the run.

South Korea failed to make the most of their opportunities and, after nice teamwork by Katie Glynn and Flynn, Krystal Forgesson had the final touch for the fourth goal.

Coach Mark Hager was pleased with the performance, but said there was work to do.

"It was great to have a win to start the series. The combinations weren't always quite there, we need to continue to work on structures and value our possession more in the front third," he said.

New Zealand's second test against South Korea is on Tuesday in Whangarei.

- NZPA