Give ’em some Stick
Kiwis’ stunning Olympic win
The Black Sticks women handled the heat — both the 37 degree temperatures and their higher-ranked rivals — to make a powerful opening statement at the Tokyo Olympics.
World No 2 Argentina were heavily favoured to account for a depleted New Zealand side in the searing conditions but the Kiwis stayed cool on and off the pitch.
Skipper Olivia Merry said the team were doing all they could to handle the intense heat.
“We’ve prepared as well as we can, we use every break for cooling down and we’ve tried to embrace the heat. It is what it is, and I thought we handled it well.”
And with defensive resilience and clinical attacking execution, the sixth-ranked New Zealanders upset the South Americans 3-0 to make the best possible start to their campaign.
That the victory was achieved without captain Stacey Michelsen and vice-captain Samantha Charlton, as well as legend Kayla Whitelock, who tore an ACL on the eve of her fifth Olympics, magnifies the sense of satisfaction for the young brigade.
Three second-half goals — Hope Ralph and Kelsey Smith scoring from penalty corners and a brilliant strike from Holly Pearson to claim her first international goal — sealed victory, but the Black Sticks were even more impressive on defence.
Goalkeeper Grace O’Hanlon rebuffed six penalty corners to keep a clean sheet. Chasing the game, Argentina piled on the pressure in the final quarter but O’Hanlon held firm to increasingly build frustration.
In a gruelling tournament that forces teams to play five matches in six days, the Black Sticks are now well placed to be one of four sides to progress from their pool.
The Commonwealth Games champions on the Gold Coast three years ago next meet world No 13 and hosts Japan tonight (11.45pm NZ time). Fourth-ranked Australia, Spain and China are also in New Zealand’s pool.
The win gives the New Zealanders a dream start after they finished an agonising fourth at the last two Olympics.
Not surprisingly, the New Zealanders were bubbling afterwards.
Pearson, asked how she felt to score her first goal for New Zealand, said: “To be honest with you, I’m just happy we won. Scoring a goal is cool, too.”
Merry said there was huge emphasis on the first game and it was good to get first-game nerves out of the way.
“We’ve only played Australia in the past few months, so it was really encouraging to put in a good performance against another really strong side,” she said.
“We’ve been working on our set pieces, so it was good to put away a few penalty corners as well.”
Merry said the result was a big stepping stone for her team.
“You don’t win the gold medal from just one game but it sets us on our way and gives us some good momentum.”
You don’t win the gold medal from just one game but it sets us on our way.
Black Sticks skipper Olivia Merry