Hockey: Black Sticks thumped by Argentina

Stacey Michelsen in action at the Harry Barker Reserve. Photo / Photosport

The New Zealand women's hockey side were thumped 7-1 by Argentina in Gisborne today, just 24 hours after edging the same opposition.

A rampant Argentina looked a completely different side to the one that went down 1-0 yesterday, with a marked improvement on both sides of the ball.

Carla Rebecchi played a starring role up front and scored four goals for the world's third-ranked team, while the Kiwis mustered just one of their own through Kirsten Pearce.

Head coach Mark Hager said his side need to make huge improvements to be a threat at the upcoming Hawke's Bay Cup.

"They stepped it up today and we were terrible," he said. "To be blunt we were woeful. We made a lot of bad errors, weren't disciplined in our structure and I think we had some players who gave up in the second half."

It was a frenetic first half with Argentina full of running in the opening 10 minutes, seeing Rebecchi seize the lead with a reverse stick shot. The Black Sticks were swift to respond and put together a nice phase down the right wing for Kirsten Pearce to smash home the equaliser.

Rebecchi's second saw the visitors head to the break back in front, before the Argentina poured in five more goals in the second spell.

The Black Sticks now head south to Hastings tomorrow in preparation for the Hawke's Bay Cup which starts this weekend. New Zealand are joined by Argentina, Australia, China, United States, Korea, Japan and India at the tournament.

New Zealand 1 (Kirsten Pearce)
Argentina 7 (Carla Rebecchi x4, Delfina Merino, Martina Cavallero, Gisele Yuarez)
HT: Argentina 2-1