A last-minute goal from Charlotte Harrison earned New Zealand a bronze medal at the Champions Trophy international women's hockey tournament in the Netherlands today.
Harrison's buzzer-beating strike enabled the Black Sticks to steal a 3-2 win in the bronze medal playoff, the first time a New Zealand team have medalled at the sport's major showpiece outside of the Olympic Games.
Her goal built on earlier efforts in the first half from Katie Glynn and Krystal Forgesson and left coach Mark Hager happy his players had left their mark in the tournament.
"It was probably a match we were lucky to come away with in the end, but I'm so pleased for players like Kayla Sharland and Emily Naylor," Hager said.
"They are stalwarts of New Zealand hockey and have been in the team for a long, long time. The team deserve this."
New Zealand enjoyed the majority of the possession in the opening 10 minutes of the match when they settled quickly, showed poise on attack and turned over the ball well on defence.
In the 13th minute, the Black Sticks were awarded two penalty corners in quick succession and Glynn scored off the second one with a cracking direct shot that went straight to the back of the net.
Less than a minute later, the New Zealanders celebrated again when Forgesson showed her skill with a good attacking move in the circle that earned her the space she needed to score and stretch the lead to 2-0.
The Koreans refused to crack and fought back, earning a penalty corner in the 28th minute which required goalkeeper Sally Rutherford to make a superb save.
Ahead 2-0 at halftime, New Zealand soaked up some pressure after the resumption and finally cracked in the 42nd minute when Kim Jong Eun weaved her way along the baseline and struck the ball through the legs of Rutherford.
Then the scores were levelled after Stacey Michelsen earned a yellow card for poorly challenging the ball outside the circle, and from the resulting penalty corner Kim Jong Eun unleashed a punishing hit to beat Rutherford.
With 14 minutes remaining Korea threatened, dominating in all areas but failing to convert their opportunities.
Conversely the New Zealanders had to live on scraps but they made the most of it when a scramble in front of goal saw Charlotte Harrison dive to get to the ball before tapping it over the line.
New Zealand 3 (Katie Glynn, Krystal Forgesson, Charlotte Harrison) Korea 2. Halftime: 2-0.
