Indian junior women go down 1-2 against New Zealand in hockey Test

New Zealand, November 5, 2014: Taking on the home team in the opening match of the six-match test series being played at the TET Multi-sports Centre, Stratford, the Indian junior women hockey Team went down by 1-2 against New Zealand in a tough clash, today.

The game saw both the teams giving a hard time to each other every time one of the teams tried penetrating the opponent's D, as the game witnessed the defence of both the teams at an all time high. With a great defensive show by the teams, the first half of the match saw a dry as both the teams failed to open the goal account.

Continuing their defensive game in the second half of the match as well, both the teams could not manage to score even a single goal till the 53rd minute of the match. It was only in the 54th minute of the game when New Zealand's Rachel McCann managed to sneak in a penalty corner and open the account her team by 1-0. Danielle Sutherland managed to support her teammate and taking the lead ahead at 2-0 by scoring a field goal in the 63rd minute of the game.

The Indian Junior Women Hockey Team showed signs of life immediately after conceding the second goal from New Zealand, as India's Namita Toppo took no time in replying with a field goal in the 64th minute and helped India to open the goal account and reducing the margin by 2-1. Putting on an attacking fight in the dying minutes of the game, the Indian Junior Women Hockey Team failed to penetrate more goals and lost the match to New Zealand with the final score of 2-1 on board.

India will be taking on New Zealand again on tomorrow for their second match of the ongoing six-match Test series.

HI Press release