Four Nations Women’s Hockey Tournament: Black Sticks lose 3-4 to South Korea in fast-paced tie

New Zealand women’s hockey team disappointed their home fans, going down 3-4 to South Korea in their opening match of the Four Nations Women’s Hockey Tournament, which kickstarted in in Whangarei on Wednesday.

The Black Sticks women, ranked number three in the world, were rattled by the fast-paced game of the South Koreans, who enjoyed maximum possession in the opening exchanges.

Ranked five places below New Zealand, the South Koreans translated their early dominance into a goal when Yoo Jin Hong sounded the board in the 14th minute.

Stung by the early goal, New Zealand pressed hard for the equalizer but found it hard to find open spaces inside the Korean ‘D’.

The home side, coached by former Australian striker Mike Hager, had an opportunity to draw level when they won a penalty corner just before the half-time hooter was blown, but the Korean defence did well to nullify that attempt.

Korea led 1-0 at the break.

The red brigade struck through their most capped player, Mi Hyun Park in the first minute of the second stanza to go up 2-0.

The Black Sticks soon reduced the margin when Charlotte Harrison tapped home a pass from Stacey Michelsen after she was set up by Pippa Hayward.

Unperturbed by the margin-reducer, South Korea pressed forward with more conviction. Da Rae Kim enhanced the lead before adding another to her tally as the Asian giants were sitting pretty with a 4-1 lead.

Sian Fremaux kept New Zealand hopes alive, making it 4-2.

The hosts needed to score two goals in the final five minutes and Michelsen converted a short corner to make the scoreline 3-4.

South Korea held out the final minutes of play to emerge deserving 4-3 winners.

Earlier in the first match, world champions Argentina humbled United States 3-0. The world number two South American powerhouse proved their superiority over the world number ten side in no uncertain terms.

Argentina opened the account through Giselle Juarez. Delfina Merino doubled the lead before Macarena Rodriguez finished things off scoring the third goal.

It may be mentioned here that the Four-Nations Tournament is a double-leg affair. The first leg would run from April 10 to 14, while the second leg would be held in Hamilton and Tauranga from April 17 to 21.

It may be worth recalling that the Black Sticks played a five Test series in Argentina, which they lost 1-2, winning one game, losing two matches and drawing two games.

On Thursday, South Korea take on USA while New Zealand will face Argentina.