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Internet Desk: The Indian women hockey team suffered its fourth consecutive defeat, going down 0-3 to hosts New Zealand in the penultimate contest of the five-match series.
The Black Sticks’ defence proved too strong to break for the Indian team, who made a strong start with an improvised attack, attempting several shots to score goals.
New Zealand field hockey midfielder, Rachael McCann struck the very first goal, leading to an early 1-0 in the very first quarter.
New Zealand dominated the game with three successive 4-1, 8-2 and 3-2 wins in the first three matches.
Tessa Jopp fetched the hosts their second goal in the 17th minute. New Zealand earned a penalty corner which was successfully converted by Jopp.
The Indian strikers who were down by two goals, made strong amends and tried different variations to find a goal but they failed to break the opposition defence.
In-form Rachael McCann struck her second goal of the match in the 26th minute to take New Zealand to a comfortable 3-0 lead at the end of half-time.
Indian goalkeeper, Rajani Etimarpu defended several attempts by New Zealand to score a goal. She made some impressive saves to keep the Black Sticks from taking further lead.
While India had dominated with the ball possession (57 per cent as opposed to New Zealand’s 43 per cent) in their previous game, New Zealand came up with new tactics to deny the visitors any such advantage.
The final two quarters too saw the Indians make strong attempts on goal in their bid to make a comeback into the game but New Zealand stayed in control, eventually winning the match.