A brilliant individual goal from Stacey Michelsen gave New Zealand’s Black Sticks their first win of the event, earning a 1-0 triumph over home favorites Great Britain.
A first minute strike from Stacey Michelsen proved to be enough to give New Zealand a 1-0 win over host nation Great Britain in the final match of day three at the Women’s Hockey Champions Trophy in London. The result gave New Zealand their first points of the competition, but leaves Great Britain with just one point and facing a near impossible task of qualifying for the event final.
The Black Sticks were outstanding in the early stages of the match and thoroughly deserved their lead, with Michelsen taking advantage of some slack defending to brilliantly weave her way through the GB defense before slotting home with a cool finish. Great Britain had numerous chances to level in the latter stages, but found themselves thwarted by some outstanding goalkeeping from Sally Rutherford to guide her team to victory.
“I think it was good for us to make a good start to today’s game, and we certainly came out with a lot more energy than we had in the two previous matches”, said winning goalscorer Stacey Michelsen after the match. “We almost surprised ourselves with how well we started because we struggled a little bit in the first two games, to be honest. Having a good start was so positive, although we gave them far too many opportunities, particularly in the last quarter.”