Bloodied Merry absolute star for Black Sticks
She left the field with blood streaming from her nose, but Olivia Merry was smiling later after playing a starring role in the Black Sticks’ 3-2 win over the United States in Rangiora yesterday.
In her 150th match, Cantabrian Merry was in great form, both setting up opportunities for her teammates in the circle and scoring a goal of her own, as New Zealand levelled the two-match women’s hockey series.
Captain Stacey Michelson scored the winner for the hosts after scores were locked 2-2 entering the final quarter, in an impressive turnaround from their 6-2 hiding from the USA the previous day.
Merry was battered and bruised after the match, having taken a nasty hit to the nose which forced her off for a short time. She said the milestone will be worth celebrating as her side had vastly improved from Saturday’s performance.
‘‘It was a million times better than yesterday. We got a great wake up call and realised we had to run a lot harder than we had. We watched some footage and worked out what we needed to improve,’’ Merry said.
‘‘It was special to get it [150 matches] in Christchurch with my friends and family watching.’’
In a more structured match of the two, the Black Sticks came out on top due to their fitness and discipline in the circle. While day two fatigue meant that mistakes from both sides snuck through, the pace increased in the second half with excellent work in the midfield from both sides and some extremely close calls in the circle.
Other impressive performers were the USA’s Kathleen Sharkey and the nuggety Michelle Vitesse, along with Black Sticks goalscorers Michelson and Liz Thompson.
The home side emerged with a different game plan from Saturday’s drubbing, defending their 25 well and clearing the ball wide for the midfielders to take to the circle.
The first strike of the match went to the USA from an easy Sharkey hit over Black Sticks goalkeeper Grace O’Hanlon off a pen- alty corner. This was followed up by a great attempt on the reverse from Merry, who continued to shine for the entire match.
The relaxed defence from the Black Sticks in the first half meant an easy goal for USA’s Alyssa Parker who was able to slot the ball past O’Hanlon.
Back on the field, Merry was visibly amped, linking well with fellow striker Kirsten Pearce. Merry took a great delivery from the midfield that she was easily able to convert off her reverse for the Black Sticks’ first goal.
Shortly after, the Black Sticks struck again and evened up the match 2-2 with a converted penalty corner from Thompson.
It was survival of the fittest in the second half and the Black Sticks stood up to the task. Merry shone again in the third quarter having a great reverse hit on goal, only to be saved by goalie Alesha Widdall.
With USA strikers Sharkey and Jill Wittmer applying pressure in the circle, the home defence delivered with some clean tackling in a huge improvement from Saturday’s easy penalty corner giveaways.
The Black Sticks started the fourth and final quarter strongly with a great strike from Michelson taking them to the lead. The Black Sticks survived some late pressure when they had to defend a penalty corner on the final whistle, which they cleared with ease.