Hockey: Black Sticks end with a win

SYDNEY - New Zealand yesterday achieved minor consolation for a poor showing at the women's World Cup by securing the last berth for the second-tier Champions Challenge event in Italy in July.

The Black Sticks booked their spot with a deserved 3-0 victory over Scotland in Perth to finish 11th among the 16 countries.

Only teams finishing seventh to 11th were eligible to compete at the Champions Challenge.

The 12th and final spot was given to the host nation.

Apart from squeezing into the challenge, New Zealand also avenged their shock 2-1 loss to the Scots in pool play.

The win came through goals by veteran defender Diana Weaver, Amanda Christie and an injury-time strike from fellow forward Niniwa Roberts-Lang.

New Zealand arrived at the tournament hoping to challenge for a semifinals spot after finishing fourth at the Commonwealth Games and fifth at the Champions Trophy at Macau in August.

They will view their campaign as unsatisfactory after winning only three of eight matches

Assistant coach Selwyn Maister said the Black Sticks' final placing was disappointing.

"We wanted to retain our place in the top six, but to be honest we haven't played well enough to have done that.

"Eleventh place is a wee bit low for us; we played a bit better than that.

"We shouldn't have been playing Scotland today and we were a better team than the United States and Japan, who will finish above us."

He said the manner of the victory summed up New Zealand's efforts at the tournament.

"We should have won by a lot more, we had enough chances to win by double that score, it was a bit frustrating."

Veteran midfielder Suzie Pearce equalled former captain Anna Lawrence's national record of 164 appearances and will have to wait until the Champions Challenge to set a new mark.

In the semifinals, Argentina beat Australia 1-0 and the Netherlands downed China by the same score.

- NZPA