Hockey: Argentina give NZ the stick

New Zealand were taught an early lesson at the Champions Trophy women's hockey tournament yesterday, with a 3-0 loss to Argentina in the Netherlands.

The New Zealanders could not cope with the pace and skill of Argentina.

Team manager Jenny Duck believed there were positives from the match despite the scoreline.

"The girls were a little bit tentative at the start of the first half and certainly got a hurry up into the pace of the game," Duck said.

"They spent a lot of time defending, including seven penalty corners which were successfully defended."

Alejandra Gulla fortuitously opened the scoring in the sixth minute when a mishit shot deceived New Zealand goalkeeper Beth Jurgeleit.

Jurgeleit's excellence in goal denied Argentina on at least three occasions before Agustina Garcia scored a superb individual goal in the 31st minute.

The second half started much better for New Zealand, when they won two penalty corners, before Argentina had a chance to get the ball into their end of the field.

The corners were not converted, however, and in the 47th minute any chance of a New Zealand comeback faded when Luciana Aymar flicked a penalty corner just inside the post.

Jurgeleit was the standout for New Zealand, keeping the scoreline down with several excellent saves, while Emily Naylor impressed and Laura Douglas made her international debut.

Argentina scored from only one of 14 corners, a poor conversion rate which their coach Gabriel Minadeo blamed on the pitch, which was slower and heavier underfoot than they were used to.

"We need more time practising on this pitch to get used to it," he said.

New Zealand coach Ian Rutledge took some consolation from his team's improvement in the second half.

"I told the players at the break to be more aggressive and show more strength on the ball," Rutledge said.

"In the second half the team settled down and showed more structure and composure and we improved."

New Zealand's next match is against Australia.

- NZPA