Hockey: Improving Korea level series

New Zealand women's hockey coach Jan Borren remained upbeat last night, despite his team's 2-1 loss to Korea in the second test match in Napier.

Korea's victory tied the three-test series at 1-1 with the decider to come in Levin tomorrow.

"It's always disappointing to lose, especially a test match," Borren said.

"However, I thought that our quality of play was much higher than the first test and, after struggling a little in the first half, especially with the speed in which we released passes, I was rather satisfied with our second-half performance."

Following last weekend's impressive 3-2 win over Korea in Wellington, the new-look Black Sticks were brought back down to Earth at Legends Stadium in Napier last night by a fast-paced Korean side, although they scored first.

New Zealand went ahead in the 12th minute. In the first test win, all three goals came from players making their international debut.

Last night, newcomer Carol Ward, also a debutante in Wellington, scored her first goal, following a well-controlled Suzie Pearce run up the left wing.

However, Korea were quick to attack after classy centre forward Mi Kyung Shin made a series of lightning passes up the centre of the field.

They culminated in a sensational deflection from Yu Kyung Han to level the score.

The visitors kept the pressure on and were rewarded just before halftime when Bo Ra Cho gave her team the lead following a penalty corner.

While both teams began the second half clearly refreshed, it was the Koreans who maintained the pace for the full game and shut down a series of New Zealand attacks.

Despite a flurry of penalty corners in the final six minutes, New Zealand were unable to convert and now face a tough challenge for the final test.

Borren was confident some speed work would help his team to take more control in the next test.

However, he remains wary of the improving Korean side, who are desperate to reclaim a top-six ranking following a disappointing Olympics.

Korea went to the Sydney Olympics ranked fifth, just ahead of sixth-ranked New Zealand, but finished an unexpected ninth.

- NZPA