"We had a 3-1 buffer but it was good to go out there and have that support in the second half," said the 22-year-old Whangarei-born, Hamilton-based defender.
Neal, who plays for Midlands in the National Hockey League, drew a collective gasp from the hockey faithful when she denied the Argies an equaliser in the dying seconds of the third quarter.
Two Argentines had stolen possession close to the halfway mark, split the defenders between them and had wrong-footed goalkeeper Amelia Gibson.
With the open goalmouth staring the Argentine in the face, she hesitated long enough for a towering Neal to poke her stick out to deflect the impending shot to rousing applause.
With four minutes to go, the Anita Punt-captained Black Sticks literally put their bodies on the line in what appeared to resemble a lolly scramble
Neal, who was instrumental in marshalling the back line and would have done ex-captain Kayla Whitelock and most-capped defender Emily Naylor watching from the balcony proud, came to the fore again in the dying minutes of the final quarter when she thwarted a runaway Argentine who threatened to do the unthinkable.
Neal said the Kiwis were "a little embarrassed and that's an understatement" after the 7-1 drubbing at the hands of the Argies in Gisborne on Wednesday.
"We were hungry and wanted to rebuild our reputation with a win."
Asked what had changed from that flogging to last night's result, she quipped: "Heart."
Going out to represent New Zealand anywhere, she said it always boiled down to pride.
"We're really passionate and we're all really excited to be in the team so it was definitely the heart today."
Neal said the Sticks weren't looking too far ahead with today a rest day.
Hager lauded his troops' mental fortitude to come back from 1-0 down after Agustina Habif put the Argies up from a penalty corner (PC) in a clash where all five goals came from PCs.
Seven minutes later Kirsten Pearce made it 1-1 after latching on to a deflected PC shot near the left upright.
Midfielder Punt pounced on a PC scramble in the 23rd minute to make it 2-1 before striker Olivia Merry made good in the 29th minute after some deft work from Pearce, who threaded the ball along the goal line from the right flank before flicking an oblique pass to Merry to slot from point-blank range for a 3-1 breather.
Goalkeeper Gibson thwarted a PC just two minutes into the final quarter but Argentina got to reload after an errant high stick in all the commotion.
Delfina Merino accepted the second invite to narrow the lead to 3-2.
"The girls had a point to prove, not only to themselves but to obviously New Zealand and hockey as well that we could play," Hager said. "That's where we have to get better because we're inconsistent - one day we're good, the next day we're not," the Australian coach said with a laugh.
He felt last night the Sticks put away their chances although he didn't think they were as sharp in the second spell.
Hager singled out Gibson and Liz Thompson as "sensational in defence", emphasising the Kiwis had never beaten the Argies twice in three games.
"You need your keeper to play well when you're not playing well."
The 2-2 draw against Japan on Saturday was disappointing considering they had 45 circle entries and seven corners but only scored one from it.
Australia should beat win-less India in their final round match tomorrow while China will offer the US another test.
In the last all-Asian game of the night, Korea beat Japan 2-1.
