Hockey: Black Sticks in mood to party

Stacey Carr on the charge during the Black Sticks' clash with South Africa in the US. The New Zealanders won 2-0. Picture / Pamela Hancock

The New Zealand women's hockey team were celebrating in style in the Virginia Beach heat last night after scoring an emphatic 2-0 victory over South Africa to win the Champions Challenge final.

The win qualified New Zealand for next year's Champions Trophy (for the world's top six nations) in Amsterdam next July. That tournament will be part of a busy year which already includes the Commonwealth Games and hopefully a spot at the World Cup.

The Black Sticks shrugged off the favourites tag yesterday to reverse their earlier 1-0 loss to the South Africans, New Zealand's only loss at the tournament.

While the triumph, the first in a final under coach Ian Rutledge, was built on a strong defensive showing, the Black Sticks never went out in a defensive frame of mind.

In 11 internationals this year, six at this tournament and five in the test series with the United States earlier, New Zealand have conceded just six goals.

"We don't go out to defend," said a beaming Rutledge as he savoured the victory in a final delayed an hour after thunderstorms. "Our philosophy is to go out and win by scoring as many goals as we can."

But there is no doubt the New Zealand defence, led by Lizzy Igasan, who was later named the player of the tournament, was critical to their success. Igasan and fellow defender Emily Naylor played all 420 minutes of New Zealand's involvement in the tournament. Along with captain Suzie Muirhead and goalkeeper Beth Jurgeleit, they played the entire match yesterday.

In what Rutledge described as the hardest call he had to make, Jurgeleit replaced Anita Wawatai in goal for the final after playing a key role in the last round-robin match in which they beat Japan 2-1 to keep their hopes alive.

Both keepers had played extremely well, said Rutledge. "Anita Wawatai had a blinder against Japan. If they were field players they would have both played the final."

In the end, Rutledge banked on Jurgeleit's added experience.

New Zealand were under some pressure early as South Africa forced three penalty corners in the first 15 minutes. Ironically, they were the only corners they had in the match, whereas the Black Sticks were not awarded a penalty corner until the second minute of the second spell but won all six corners in that period.

After weathering that early storm, New Zealand played their way back into the match with Niniwa Roberts-Lang, who celebrated her 100th international in the win over Japan, having early half chances.

The deadlock was broken after the break when, from that first penalty corner, Meredith Orr scored. Ten minutes later Roberts-Lang made it 2-0 from open play as New Zealand unleashed attack after attack.

In controlling the match for long periods, New Zealand, the highest-ranked team at the tournament (at sixth), fully deserved their win over a South African team who are ranked 11th equal in the world (with the US).

"It was a whole team effort. They were brilliant," said Rutledge. "No way would I single out any one player. This was a special team performance. I'm extremely proud of the girls."

Rutledge, a hard-nosed Australian who has been around the sport for years, admitted it was the highlight of his coaching career.

"They played some great hockey. This was the fruition of some hard work together. Seeing them on the podium receiving their gold medals was a very special moment. They lived up to their ranking and expectations."

With four 19-year-olds, an 18-year-old, a 21-year-old and players like Igasan and Honor Dillon who scored the winner against Japan at 22 years, Rutledge is confident he has the players for the future.

In the play-off for third, Japan came from behind to beat England 2-1 while the USA got home 5-3 over Spain to take fifth.

* The men's hockey team lost 2-1 to France at Bourge, France, yesterday.