The Black Sticks Women remained unbeaten to qualify for the semifinals at the FIH Women's Nations Cup.
The 11th-seeded New Zealander registered a 2-0 victory against world No 17 Canada in their last Pool B fixture in Terrassa, Spain on Thursday to reach the final four at the second-tier Paris Olympics build-up tournament.
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Four minutes is all it took for them to assert their dominance as Megan Hull’s penalty corner hit the stick of Alexis De Armond before sneaking in.
The Black Sticks had better possession and control of the game, and it was down to Canadian goalkeeper Rowan Harris and the defenders to maintain the scoreline in the first half.
While it was a slower start to the second half, New Zealand got the all-important second goal when Jessie Anderson served it on a plate for Hannah Cotter to finish.
“We had to score goals, and we had to go out there and press hard," said player of the match Olivia Shannon, who felt that New Zealand could have scored more goals.
"We are disappointed that we couldn’t get those opportunities in the back of the net. We can charge on and got the semi-finals coming up and move on to the next game.”
The BSW will play world No 13 Ireland in their semifinal on Saturday (3am Sunday NZT), while the 10th-ranked Black Sticks Men will face world No 16 Pakistan in their FIH Nations Cup semifinal in Gneizno, Poland on Saturday (4am Sunday NZT).
Black Sticks Women 2 (Megan Hull 4', Hannah Cotter 40') Canada 0. 1Q: 1-0, HT: 1-0, 3Q: 2-0
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