New Zealand take second place in Pool A after 3-1 win over Die Danas

Match Review GER - NZL 1-3

Watch clips from the Germany - New Zealand game at…Posted December 9, 2015

A brutal game of attack and counter attack was played out between Germany and New Zealand as they battled over favourable positioning in the quarter-finals of the Argentina HWL Final. The result, a 3-1 win to New Zealand, means that New Zealand are runners-up in Pool A behind the Netherlands. Germany finish bottom of the pool on the same points as Korea but with an inferior goal difference.

While the match was evenly contested for the majority of the 60 minutes, New Zealand were able to make the possession count when it mattered.

Certainly New Zealand had the better of the opening encounters, with Sophie Cocks, Anita Punt and Petrea Webster causing all sorts of issues in the German defence. It was only the cool head of Janne Muller-Weiland and the awareness of Kristina Reynolds that kept the Black Sticks at bay in those early encounters.

Momentum switched as the quarter counted down. Eileen Hoffman was unlucky to see her shot fly just wide of Rutherford in the New Zealand goal, this chance following some good build-up work from Anne Schroder and Jana Teschke.

The deadlock was broken by a fine solo goal from Charlotte Harrison (19'). The forward picked up the ball after a mistake on the German 23 line. She sped towards the circle and her shot seemed to catch Reynolds unawares as it flew into the back of the goal.

Germany fought back through a series of penalty corners but, although one of Julia Muller's shots found the back of the net, it was too high.

The second half saw New Zealand hit the ground running and Pippa Hayward (32') was able to pick up a rebound after Harrison's initial shot was saved. Germany continued to press for goals. Pia-Sophie Oldhafer was unlucky to see her crashing shot just skim Rutherford's goal and Lydia Haase also came close to opening the Die Danas account.

New Zealand extended their lead through a penalty corner from Liz Thompson (42'). The shot lacked any real power and it was probably this that made Reynolds misjudge the save and allow the ball to go under her pads.

Germany came back into the game with a nicely worked penalty corner from Franzisca Hauke (45'). She injected the ball and then received the slipped return pass to put it past the Black Sticks defence.

Both teams continued to contest every ball and Germany had a string of penalty corners in the final minutes of the match, but it was not to be Germany's day as New Zealand defended with bravery and closed the German attack down. In the final throw of the dice, Germany removed their 'keeper and played with 11 field players but the scores stayed at 3-1.

"Today, we defended badly and we failed to make the most of our chances," said German defender Janne Muller-Weiland. "But we are Germany and we have a good record in quarter-finals."

Anita Punt, captain of New Zealand, said: "We tried a few things today and, while it was good to get the win, we still have some work to do. But we don't like too many rest days so we are happy to be playing again tomorrow. It will be tough against Great Britain."

Speaking about New Zealand's recent record with shoot-outs, Punt added: "As you know we don't have the best record, but we have been practising."

Goals

Team	Minute	Shirt #	Player	Action	Score
NZL	19	23	HARRISON Charlotte	FG	0 - 1
NZL	32	26	HAYWARD Pippa	FG	0 - 2
NZL	42	16	THOMPSON Liz	PC	0 - 3
GER	45	21	HAUKE Franzisca	PC	1 - 3

Cards

Team	Minute	Shirt #	Player	Type
NZL	25	25	SMITH Kelsey	G
NZL	58	26	HAYWARD Pippa	G

GER

Minute	Shirt #	Name	Goals
Bench	1	FRANK Yvonne
4	3	KORTH Anissa
X	8	SCHRÖDER Anne
X	10	HASSELMANN Nina
7	11	SCHÜTZE Lisa
X	13	OTTE Katharina
X	14	MÜLLER-WIELAND Janne
X	17	TESCHKE Jana
X	18	ALTENBURG Lisa
4	19	KEIBEL Laura
X	21	HAUKE Franzisca	1
X	23	MÄVERS Marie
5	27	PIEPER Cecile
X	28	MÜLLER Julia
X	29	OLDHAFER Pia-Sophie
4	30	HOFFMANN Eileen
4	31	HAASE Lydia
X	32	REYNOLDS Kristina

NZL

Minute	Shirt #	Name	Goals	Green
X	4	MERRY Olivia
X	6	WEBSTER Petrea
X	8	RUTHERFORD Sally
X	9	NEAL Brooke
7	12	GUNSON Ella
X	13	CHARLTON Samantha
X	16	THOMPSON Liz	1
X	17	COCKS Sophie
4	18	PEARCE Kirsten
16	21	BARNETT Georgia
3	22	FLYNN Gemma
X	23	HARRISON Charlotte	1
X	24	KEDDELL Rose
5	25	SMITH Kelsey		1
X	26	HAYWARD Pippa	1	1
7	30	HENRY Kathryn
Bench	31	MICHELSEN Stacey
X	32	PUNT Anita

DNP = Did not participate
S = Suspended
DSQ = Disqualified

Match Officials

Role	Official
Umpire 1	MIAO Lin
Umpire 2	GIDDENS Maggie
Reserve Umpire	JOUBERT Michelle
Video Umpire	METCHETTE Carol
Judge 1	PIGRETTI Laura
Judge 2	SHIN Jung Hee
Technical Officer	AKII-BUA Nataki

Pool A

Pool B

GER V NZL ( Pool A ) Hockey World League Final Rosario 2015