lunch: New Zealand defeated Italy 3-1 in a play-off match at the Women’s FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifier in New Zealand on Friday, redeeming itself from missing out on the semi-finals and securing fifth place.
New Zealand were one of the pre-tournament favorites to take one of the three Paris 2024 spots available here. However, they lost to the United States and India and finished third in Pool B.
Rose Tynan (7th minute), Olivia Melly (10th minute) and Hannah Cotter (31st minute) scored for New Zealand, while Ivanna Pessina scored Italy’s only goal in the 21st minute.
On Friday, New Zealand took control and made some good attacks to dominate the match. However, they were unable to utilize their attacks and missed many chances.
The Black Sticks earned penalty corners in the third and seventh minutes, the second of which resulted in a goal. Tynan took the lead in the seventh minute with a rebound from a penalty corner after Olivia Melly’s first shot was blocked by the goalkeeper.
Captain Olivia took advantage of a quick attack to double the advantage to 2-0 within three minutes.
Italy fought back in the second quarter, scoring their second PC and Ivanna Pessina scoring to make it 1-2.
But it wasn’t over for New Zealand, as a great attack in the 21st minute saw Hannah Cotter score in the 31st minute to make it 3-1, giving New Zealand their two-goal advantage back.
Italy put pressure on them by scoring penalty corners in the third and fourth quarters, but were unable to score any more goals.
Earlier, Chile scored a goal in the second quarter and then withstood pressure from the Czech Republic to emerge winners and take seventh place. The Czechs had to be content with eighth and last place in the tournament.
Fernanda Villagran scored the all-important goal from a penalty stroke to give Chile the lead. Chile won six penalty corners, while the Czech Republic only won one.