The Vantage Black Sticks Women have booked their place in the FIH Hockey Women’s Nations Cup final for the first time ever after a tense shootout win over host nation Chile in front of a passionate home crowd.
New Zealand struck first in an action-packed opening quarter, with a penalty corner seeing Kaitlin Cotter deliver the ball to the right post for Anna Willocks to deflect past the keeper, opening the scoring 1-0 in the 8th minute. Chile hit back almost immediately, gaining a penalty corner themselves after a string of Kiwi players struggled to get back five metres after a quick autoplay taken by Chile just outside the circle, equalizing the score to 1-1.
The second quarter had numerous circle entries and penalty corners, but the score remained level.
The third quarter saw pressure increase. We saw Mezzy Surridge find another foot in the circle, following a fantastic turnover by Olivia Shannon who found her in space. Despite two unsuccessful penalty corners, the score stayed equal going into the final quarter.
New Zealand came out firing, dominating possession in the opening 2 minutes. Willocks had an early chance with a reverse sweep, but the Chilean goalkeeper saved her attempt. New Zealand earned another string of penalty corners, including one in the final 50 seconds – bringing their total to 10 throughout the game – but were unable to break the streak and find the back of the goal, sending the match to a dramatic shootout.
Olivia Shannon, Holly Pearson, and Steph Dickins calmly swept and slotted their attempts past the Chilean keeper, while Grace O’Hanlon put on a stellar display in goal, making key saves to keep New Zealand ahead and ultimately come out with the 3-1 shootout win.
The overall result was 1-1 with a 3-1 win in shootouts, sending the Vantage Black Sticks Women into their first-ever Nations Cup Final.
They will play Ireland in the final tomorrow, Monday, 3rd March at 10:30 am NZT.
New Zealand
