![\"India](\"https:\/\/indiansportsnews.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/India-vs-New-Zealand-hockey.jpg\")
Hamilton (New Zealand): The Indian senior women’s hockey team put up a fair performance in their 0-3 loss to New Zealand in the penultimate match of the five-match series here on Friday.<\/p>\nHamilton (New Zealand): The Indian senior women’s hockey team put up a fair performance in their 0-3 loss to New Zealand in the penultimate match of the five-match series here on Friday.<\/p>\n
India made a strong start with an improvised attack, attempting shot on goal but the Black Sticks defence continued to be too strong to be beaten.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile the hosts found an opportunity in the 14th minute with a quick-thinking Rachael McCann who pumped the ball into the goal clinching an early 1-0 lead in the first quarter to put India under pressure.<\/p>\n
Following three successive 4-1, 8-2 and 3-2 wins in the first three matches, New Zealand looked to dominate.<\/p>\n
Tessa Jopp fetched the host team their second goal in the 17th minute. New Zealand earned a penalty corner which was successfully converted by Jopp.<\/p>\n
Down by two goals, the Indian strikers made strong amends trying different variations at converting a goal but could not break the Black Sticks defence.<\/p>\n
In-form Rachael McCann struck her second goal of the match in the 26th minute to take New Zealand’s lead to a comfortable 3-0 at the end of half-time.<\/p>\n
The final two quarters saw Indian keeper Rajani Etimarpu stay busy at the post, defending the attempts on goal made by New Zealand.<\/p>\n
She made some impressive saves to keep the hosts from taking a further lead. The Indian defence too stitched together a well-structured strategy to ensure a goalless third and fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
While India had dominated with the ball possession (57 per cent as opposed to New Zealand’s 43 per cent) in their previous game where they lost 2-3, New Zealand came up with new tactics to deny India any such advantage.<\/p>\n
The final quarter too saw India make strong attempts on goal and comeback into the game but New Zealand stayed in control to win the match 3-0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hamilton (New Zealand): The Indian senior women’s hockey team put up a fair performance in their 0-3 loss to New Zealand in the penultimate match of the five-match series here on Friday.<\/p>\n
India made a strong start with an improvised attack, attempting shot on goal but the Black Sticks defence continued to be too strong to be beaten.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1834,3356,14131,466,22200,22201],"class_list":["post-34790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hockey-hockey","tag-black-sticks","tag-hockey-news","tag-india-vs-new-zealand","tag-indian-sports-news","tag-rachael-mccann","tag-tessa-jopp"],"yoast_head":"\n