by Bruce Hamilton
NOTTINGHAM, England, July 15, 2010
New Zealand went down 5-2 to Germany in the women’s Samsung Champions Trophy tournament in Nottingham on Thursday.
New Zealand played in white shirts with red piping and red skirts as Germany, named first on the match sheet, had priority to wear their usual black strip.
A vocal contingent of Kiwi supporters cheered New Zealand from the first whistle and New Zealand responded with pressure on Germany’s defensive quarter, forcing Germany to defend for the first seven minutes.
Germany broke through in the centre of the pitch, gaining quality possession in New Zealand’s circle after 13 minutes.
Lydia Haase passed forward for Eileen Hoffman to beat Beth Jurgeleit in New Zealand’s goal with a soft push into goal.
Charlotte and Samantha Harrison combined on a fast break into Germany’s circle which broken down by Germany’s captain Tina Bachmann, supported by Germany’s scrambling defence, without a shot on goal.
The feature of the first half became the inability of New Zealand to get shots on goal despite quality play, building up through the middle of the pitch and along the sides and possession in Germany’s circle.
Katharina Otte scored another soft goal for Germany at 20 minutes, following a shot by Tina Bachmann on Beth Jurgeleit and pushing the rebound into goal.
New Zealand continued to apply pressure on Germany’s circle and earned two unconverted penalty corners.
Germany regained possession and scored again through Eileen Hoffmann who put in a rebound off the pads of Beth Jurgeleit to go to the break 3-0 ahead.
New Zealand started the second half with dominant field position and made three fast breaks, threatening to score but with no result.
The flow of play turned against New Zealand, 20 minutes into the second half and Germany’s Maike Stockel scored a scrambling goal after several shots on goal by Germany, capitalising on Beth Jurgeleit’s save low on the pitch to flick high into goal.
Natasha Fitzsimons conceded a penalty stroke with a desperate attempt to prevent a goal and Germany’s Natascha Keller scored Germany’s fifth unanswered goal with the stroke conversion inside the left post.
New Zealand lifted the already busy tempo in attack in the last 10 minutes, finding space in behind Germany’s defence to create scoring chances.
Katie Glynn and Samantha Harrison had quality unsuccessful shots on goal.
With seven minutes on the clock, Germany’s defence gave Katie Glynn room in the circle to beat Germany’s goalkeeper with a push through her pads to get New Zealand on the scoreboard.
Charlotte and Samantha Harrison combined again to score New Zealand’s second goal, catching Germany’s defence napping.
Clarissa Eshuis threw a long overhead from the 16 yard line, deep into Germany’s territory, finding Charlotte Harrison unmarked on the right.
Charlotte Harrison’s cross to near the top of the circle was picked up by Samantha Harrison with only Germany’s goalkeeper to beat.
Samantha Harrison ran right, turned and wrong-footed the goalkeeper to make a backstick shot high into the middle of the net for New Zealand’s second goal.
Black Sticks Women's Coach, Mark Hager, lamented New Zealand’s inconsistency and looks for more physicality in his players.
“We fight to the end but we are just inconsistent,” Hager said.
“Germany were more physical than us and they pushed us off the ball and we have players who are not prepared to put their body on the line,” Hager added.
“We were not clinical enough in the front third of the pitch and in the circle so that is an area we have to look at improving when we go home,” Hager said.
Germany’s Coach Michael Behrmann saw positives in New Zealand’s defensive play.
The New Zealand team defended quite well and it was very hard for us to find a way through to the circle,” Behrmann said.
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