Historic win pleases Black Sticks Women Hockey, says Coach Mark Hager
Krystal Forgesson lit the lamp twice, as the Women’s hockey squad of New Zealand powered a historic victory over Germany in the second Test of the two-match preparatory session that took place in Berlin on June 12, 2011.
The victory not only made the Women’s hockey coach Mark Hager happy, but also boosted the morale of the player ahead of the Champions Trophy. The Black Sticks scored four goals against the three of their competitors and secured the first win against Germany,
since 2004.
It was a splendid performance from the Black Sticks, which ruined the defence-line of Germany, the third ranked team in the International Hockey Federation’s ranking. Though, the three key players from Germany were not part of the losing team, the Black
Sticks secured the victory after a tough contest.
Speaking to the media following the win, Mark Hager stated that the Germans took the advantage of their mistakes and led the game after the first 35 minutes. However, he said that they further stiffed their defence and kept the opponent off the score-board
in the second half to win the game.
In a pleasing state, he further stated, “For the next game - we just need to keep doing what we are doing, keep persisting and we should convert goals. Jetlag could be an issue in tomorrow’s game; it’s often a few days in that players are affected by it,
so we need to be aware of that.”
In the quite hardly fought game, the German squad managed their first goal in the 3rd minute of the game. Bianca Russell, the custodian from New Zealand, left the goal open in a bid to stop the ball, but to no avail.
After trailing one goal, the Black Sticks' women started more aggressive game and had it all even in the very early minutes. Krystal Forgesson managed to dribble the opponent defenders and chipped in a shot into the German goal to tie the knots at one-all.
After both the teams locked horn, they sped up their efforts in the search of go-ahead goal. The German side earned a penalty-stroke in the 21st minute of the game and expanded the lead. In a matter of few minutes, the German team received another
goal from the field and established their dominance onto the field. The action in the first half was concluded with Germany leading the game by two goals.
However, the second half completely belonged to New Zealand’s women. Forgesson scored another goal in the 41st minute while her team-mates, Charlotte Harrison and Kayla Sharland, scored one goal apiece from the field and penalty conversion to
ride away the field with a historic triumph.
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