After a hugely successful Ford National Hockey League campaign, New Zealand international Samantha Charlton is excited about the prospect of playing in her first ever Oceania Cup.
Charlton has been in hot form recently, helping her Midlands team to an emphatic 5-0 win over Capital in the NHL final to take home the K-Cup for the first time.
The 21-year-old defender/midfielder played brilliantly throughout the tournament and was the clear winner of the MVP trophy.
“It’s pretty cool, you never expect to win an award like that. The standard at NHL was really high this year with a lot of players who stood out and played well, so I’m really privileged and proud to win MVP,” she said.
Charlton made her Black Sticks debut against Australia as a teenager in 2010, but hasn’t had a chance to play the old rivals much since then.
With the 2014 National Squads soon to be named, she is hoping her name will be in the mix again to play Australia, Samoa and Papua New Guinea at the Oceania Cup in Stratford from 30 October - 3 November.
“I debuted against Australia in 2010 but since then have only played them once, so I’m really looking forward to playing them again.
“It’s going to be pretty tough and Australia recently won their round of the World League so they’re obviously in a really good place and are strong at the moment. You’ve got the Pacific nations there as well and I haven’t played them either so that’ll be a new challenge.
“We beat Australia at the Olympics but it was a pretty scrappy performance and everyone was nervous at the start of the tournament. This time around we’re all focussed on putting in a high quality game against them.”
With the Black Sticks Women and Men having already qualified for 2014's Rabobank Hockey World Cup, the competition will still be fierce with valuable world ranking points on offer.
The Black Sticks Women open their Oceania Cup tournament against Australia on Wednesday 30 October at the TET MultiSports Centre.
CLICK HERE for more on the Oceania Cup, including draw and ticket information
Source material: Hockey NZ media release
