Hockey: Black Sticks power to Four Nations victory

The Black Sticks Women have finished the first Four Nations in emphatic style after defeating Korea 3-0 in the final at the ITM Hockey Centre in Whangarei today. Photo / Getty Images.

The Black Sticks Women have finished the first Four Nations in emphatic style after defeating Korea 3-0 in the final at the ITM Hockey Centre in Whangarei today.

The Kiwis certainly saved their best performance at the tournament for last, putting on a clinic on both attack and defence.

It was a fast start from both sides but New Zealand took control late in the first half and scored two goals in quick succession thanks to Sian Fremaux and Katie Glynn to go into halftime up 2-0.

The momentum stayed with the Black Sticks in the second half with Fremaux putting the icing on the cake with her second goal of the game to seal the win.

Black Sticks head coach Mark Hager was pleased with his side's resilience in the final, having lost to Korea earlier in the tournament.

"It was our best performance by far in all of our four games. Our ability to control play was pretty good and we dominated large periods. Every player had a good game today," Hager said.

"The pleasing thing is that we've kept improving and we now go into a new tournament. We have five new players coming in so it's a fresh start for us again."

Earlier in the day Argentina overcame USA 3-0 to secure third place in the first of the two Four Nations tournaments.

The Olympic silver medallists never looked troubled and quickly opened up a three goal buffer thanks to Delfina Merino, Giselle Juarez and Sofi Maccari.

USA responded with a much more effective defence after the break, keeping Argentina scoreless in a goalless but entertaining second half.

With the first leg of the Four Nations complete, teams now head to the Gallagher Centre in Hamilton where leg two begins on Wednesday with the finals to be played in Tauranga next weekend.