New Zealand's womens hockey team is trying to not get carried away with their stunning 1-nil victory over Australia in their opening match of the Olympics.
Cat Finlayson scored from a penalty corner after 3 minutes and the Black Sticks did well to hold on for the rest of the match, including for the last 2 minutes when the Australians pulled their keeper and had 11 field players.
Team manager Deb Balme says coming away with a win from the first match at Riverbank Arena was what the team wanted.
"We've never beaten Australia in an Olympic Games before, so it was a double bonus for us and everyone was pretty happy with it.
"Considering that we score within the first five minutes and held onto that 1-0 lead through out the game was pretty gutsy of the girls," says Balme.
Coach Mark Hager says it was always going to be a tough contest and to come away with a win is a good start to their campaign.
He says they scrambled well in defence and goalkeeper Bianca Russell played really well.
It is their first win over Australia at an Olympics.
New Zealand is ranked 6th in the world and Australia 7th.
Hager says they talked before the game about how Australia had an amazing hockey history at the Olympics and that they had nothing to lose and that they had to put away their chances.
The teams had played a lot against each other over the last three years with varying results, and it was good to play a team the Black Sticks knew so well first up.
New Zealand is ranked 6th in the world and Australia 7th.
Ahead of the game, Black Sticks coach Mark Hager said the New Zealanders were well prepared and the two sides closely matched.
He said the teams have played a lot against each other over the last three years with varying results, and it was good to be playing a team the Black Sticks know so well first up.
New Zealand's next opponents are South Africa on Tuesday.
In other results from the women's hockey, the Netherlands beat Belgium 3-0 and China beat Korea 4-0.
Argentina beat South Africa 7-1.
Great Britain beat Japan 4-0.
Germany beat USA 2-1.
