The Black Sticks Women have powered to an unassailable series lead after defeating Malaysia 5-2 in the fourth match at the TET MultiSports Centre in Stratford on Saturday.
It was a dramatic turnaround by the Kiwis following Thursday’s 1-0 defeat to the World No 21 ranked Malaysians.
The Kiwis raced out to a three-goal buffer in the first half before scoring another two in the third quarter to put the result beyond doubt.
Phoebe Steele, Kirsten Pearce, Rachel McCann, Samantha Harrison and Michaela Curtis all found the back of the net to give the Black Sticks a series win with the last match scheduled on Sunday.
Black Sticks assistant coach Sean Dancer said it was a pleasing way to follow up a poor performance.
“It was a good turnaround from the girls after Thursday’s game, we were able to create a lot of opportunities and capitalised on five of those today,” he said.
“We have set a solid benchmark and will look to build on that and finish with our best hockey in the final game tomorrow.”
The Kiwis were first onto the score board in the seventh minute thanks to a slick penalty corner finish from Canterbury’s Steele.
Five minutes later the Black Sticks were in again as Pearce netted a field goal before McCann topped off the first half with a stunning reverse stick shot in the 20th minute.
Malaysia clawed a goal back early in the second half after Surizan Noh Awang Noh scrambled her way through a congested circle to score.
A third quarter purple patch saw the Black Sticks score two goals in the space of a minute with Harrison roofing a reverse shot and Curtis hitting a penalty corner deflection into goal.
Malaysia scored a consolation goal in the final 10 minutes through Nuraini Rashid but New Zealand held firm for a quality win.
Photo Credit: Malaysia Tigress Facebook Page
