The Black Sticks women lost to Argentina 3-2 at the Hawke's Bay Festival of Hockey in Hastings last night.
Locked at 2-2 with the clock winding down, both sides scrambled and dived for the winning goal and it was Carla Rebecchi who found the net - with three minutes to play - to give her side its third win of the tournament. It was New Zealand's second loss in three matches.
The Black Sticks worked hard in the second half to pull back a 2-0 deficit after Rebecchi and captain Luciana Aymar had put the visitors ahead.
The Black Sticks' performance improved as the game went on - the Kiwis marked players well, turned over a lot of ball and created opportunities. The Black Sticks' discipline and attitude paid off when Anita Punt scored her third goal of the tournament and captain Kayla Whitelock netted 10 minutes later.
In earlier games, extremely wet conditions made play difficult between Korea and Japan, at one point delaying the match. At halftime the score was locked at 1-1, but the tempo was soon raised when Korea struck early in the second half.
