Hockey: No milestone to remember after shoot-out heartbreak

It was supposed to be a landmark match for New Zealand Black Sticks player Michelle Hollands. Turns out it was one she would rather forget.

Hollands played her 100th game for the Black Sticks when she stepped out for the Commonwealth Games bronze medal decider against England at the Melbourne State Hockey Centre yesterday.

But England won 3-1 on penalty strokes after a 0-0 fulltime and extra time deadlock. It was a tension-filled finish but not the one Hollands had hoped for.

So the Black Sticks leave Melbourne without a gong. Hollands heads home without a memento of her 100th international fixture.

"I played my first game for New Zealand against England and I think from memory we beat them that day 2-0. That would have been nice to do today but it wasn't meant to be, I suppose," Hollands said.

"Winning the gold medal in my 100th game was obviously the dream but that got taken away in the semifinal. It then becomes win the bronze, so that didn't happen either. It was pretty much the same sort of game except last time we put away set pieces."

Still, Hollands shouldn't be too downhearted.

Just being part of this tournament was remarkable enough. She has a 12-month-old baby with her in Melbourne and somehow managed to fit her motherly duties around commitments with the Black Sticks.

It is a family commitment that could test her resolve to stick with the game.

But for now, Hollands has no intention of letting her international hockey career end on such a disappointing note.

"We have got World Cup qualifiers in three weeks. I think we will be sticking with the same team there so it will be just getting straight back into it from there really," she said. "We will go into that and hopefully win those games instead."

The Black Sticks were pushed hard by a resolute England yesterday and were forced to spend much of the game defending.

England set up a hatful of shots on goal, had several penalty corners and frustrated the New Zealanders to a 0-0 halftime stand-off.

It was a lethargic effort from a Kiwi side still struggling to recover from their shock loss to India in the semifinals two days earlier.

Against an English side they had dispatched with a 4-0 drubbing to top Pool B with four wins from four games, the Black Sticks simply failed to produce the sort of hockey that had them fancied to step up and challenge the host Australians for the gold medal.

There were moments - but precious few - when the Kiwis managed to find some attacking momentum but the game lacked atmosphere.

It was a flat end to what had been such a promising Commonwealth Games, even with the golden goal extra-time crescendo.

New Zealand took the early advantage in the shoot-out when Hollands slotted the first shot after England's Lisa Wooding missed.

But the next three Kiwis missed. Frances Kreft, Stacey Carr and Kayla Sharland all failed to net the ball, the latter two having their shots saved by the stick of English goalkeeper Carolyn Reid.

It was the second time in succession the Black Sticks have been foiled for the bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games.

They lost to Australia in the corresponding game in Manchester four years ago.

The result also continues a Black Sticks tradition - they have never won a penalty shoot-out.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY