Bronze medal consolation for Merry
Star Black Sticks strike forward Olivia Merry was relieved with her side’s bronze finish at the World League women’s hockey semifinals, despite coming so close to the final this week.
After coming to terms with a disappointing penalty shootout 5-4 loss against world No 1 the Netherlands, the Black Sticks got themselves up to beat South Korea 1-0 yesterday.
Merry said the team was still feeling flat after the loss, but she was proud of the way they dealt to the South Koreans.
‘‘After the disappointment of yesterday we were pretty flat so to pick up the bronze is pretty special.
‘‘We’ve played in so many third and fourth playoffs so it is nice to come out on top of one of those. People don’t understand how hard it is to mentally pick up in those situations under pressure.’’
The win against South Korea followed the heartbreak of the shootout loss where the Black Sticks looked to have snatched a famous victory.
Samantha Charlton scored what would have been the game winner on the final attempt of the first round of shootouts, but while the Kiwis celebrated, the Netherlands called for a video referral, which showed Charlton’s shot crossed the line 0.2 of a second after the eight second clock expired and the call was reversed.
The Dutch went on to win the shootout 5-4 and beat China in the gold medal match 2-0.
‘‘Some say we were unlucky and others say we actually won it,’’ said Merry.
The Black Sticks women have often bowed out second place when it comes to penalty shoot outs in crucial matches, missing out on bronze at the London Olympics also to the Netherlands. Merry said there seemed to be a ‘‘hex’ on the side when it come to winning those.
‘‘It’s not through lack of trying. We definitely train for it [penalty shootouts] a lot, as we are known to lose them a lot.’’
Merry had a standout tournament scoring several times up front to help with wins over Spain, Italy and Australia. The Canterbury forward was happy with her form, although said the tournament was just a building block for the World League finals to be played in New Zealand in November.
The bronze medal finish earns the Black Sticks valuable world ranking points as well as qualification for the 2018 Hockey World Cup in London.