At University of Birmingham Hockey and Squash Centre: (Bronze medal match): India 1 (Salima Tete) New Zealand 1 (Olivia Merry); India win 2-1 on shootout; 1Q: 0-0 HT: 1-0, 3Q: 1-0, FT: 1-1.
The Black Sticks women have come away empty-handed from the Commonwealth Games after losing their bronze medal clash with India in a shootout.
Hurting after a heart-breaking shootout loss to England in the semifinal, New Zealand lost on penalties for the second time in two days after it was 1-1 at fulltime on Sunday.
New Zealand captain Olivia Merry levelled with 18 seconds left in normal time from a penalty stroke to tie the game.
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India’s Monika competes for possession with New Zealand’s Megan Hull in their bronze medal clash at the Commonwealth Games.
India triumphed 2-1 on the penalty shootout though after Megan Hull had opened the scoring for the Kiwis. Hope Ralph, Rose Tynan, Katie Doar, and Olivia Shannon were all unsuccessful with their shootout attempts.
It completes a miserable Commonwealth Games for New Zealand hockey with the Black Sticks women, who captured gold four years ago on the Gold Coast, missing a medal.
The Black Sticks men also had a disappointing tournament, missing the semifinals after a 4-3 loss to South Africa in their final pool match.
India would have been delighted to snare a medal after finishing fourth on the Gold Coast in 2018, being thumped 6-0 by England in the bronze medal match.
New Zealand were ranked eighth in the world rankings heading into the Commonwealth Games with India ninth. At last month’s Women’s Hockey World Cup, the teams played out a thriller in pool play with New Zealand winning 4-3.
This Black Sticks’ women’s squad didn’t boast the same experience as their side from the 2018 Games, but they would have targeted at least a medal in Birmingham.
New Zealand were left to rue a sluggish first half, where they were slow to get into the game and coughed up too much possession.
They trailed 1-0 at halftime with India’s Salima Tete firing home from a tough angle in the second quarter.
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India’s Salima Tete celebrates the first goal of the game against New Zealand in the bronze medal match.
After a poor first half, New Zealand finally got into their rhythm in the second 30 minutes and began to look more threatening on attack.
Merry thought she had equalised, getting a deflection on a Doar shot into the goal circle, but they were denied for an earlier discretion – with the ball not travelling five metres from the free hit.
Goalkeeper Grace O’Hanlon was outstanding for New Zealand making several brilliant saves in the second half to keep India at bay.
Shannon had one of New Zealand’s best chances of the game, but fired over the bar after Indian goalkeeper Savita knocked the ball into her path.
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New Zealand’s Rose Tynan can’t convert a chance in the bronze medal match against India.
New Zealand pulled O’Hanlon in the closing stages for an extra attacker in a desperate bid to level the score.
The goal finally came with 18 seconds left after Indian defender Navneet used her foot to keep a goal-bound ball out from a penalty corner.
Merry, New Zealand’s most experienced player and skipper, made no mistake, calmly converting her penalty stroke to send it to a shootout.
That was as good as it got with Hull the lone New Zealand player to score in the shootout with Savita starring in goal for India.
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