Black Sticks trio set for debut at Oceania Cup

TET Black Sticks Women’s head coach Mark Hager has named three debutants in his team to compete at the Oceania Cup which starts next Wednesday in Taranaki.

Midlands defender Brooke Neal, Auckland defender Liz Thompson and Canterbury striker Sophie Cocks will all earn their first international caps at the tournament which runs from 30 October - 3 November at the TET Multisports Centre in Stratford.

The team is also stacked with experience with Kayla Sharland, Emily Naylor, Gemma Flynn, Anita Punt and Krystal Forgesson all having played more than 100 games for the Black Sticks.

Hager is looking forward to the Oceania Cup as the first chance to give the newly named 2013/14 National Squad a run against top opposition.

“We are really looking forward to getting back into competition. We haven’t played since World League Round 3 so it will be a good test of where we’re at,” he said. “It’s a new group and we’re excited to play the first series together ahead of what is going to be a very busy next 12 months for us.”

The complete squad can be found below, while more on this story can be found my clicking here.

The Black Sticks Women play their first game at the Oceania Cup against Australia at 5.30pm (UTC/GMT+13) on Wednesday 30 October. The game will be live streamed on the Hockey New Zealand website (www.hockeynz.co.nz)

Tickets are selling fast, and can be purchased at www.ticketdirect.co.nz

BLACK STICKS WOMEN – OCEANIA CUP
TET MULTISPORTS CENTRE, TARANAKI
30 OCTOBER – 3 NOVEMBER

SHIRT #	NAME	AGE	CAPS
18	Bridget BLACKWOOD	22	36
13	Sam CHARLTON	21	61
17	Sophie COCKS	19	-
18	Rhiannon DENNISON	20	14
22	Gemma FLYNN	23	141
3	Krystal FORGESSON	31	183
26	Pippa HAYWARD	23	24
24	Rose KEDDELL	19	23
15	Julia KING	20	48
2	Emily NAYLOR	27	222
9	Brooke NEAL	21	-
32	Anita PUNT	26	128
7	Aniwaka ROBERTS	24	19
30	Bianca RUSSELL	35	59
8	Sally RUTHERFORD	32	34
1	Kayla SHARLAND	27	188
16	Liz THOMPSON	19	-
6	Petrea WEBSTER	25	34