We have so much resting on today's match. We need to win the match so we can keep our world ranking at number 3 in the world. If we do not win then the German team pass us on ranking points and that then puts us down to number 4 in the world and also puts us in a more difficult pool at the Olympics next year.

We know what is expected of us on the field today but the question is can we play under the pressure and can we play really good hockey in such a pressure game? We prepared well enough for the game but did we place enough expectation on how well New Zealand would come out and play and how much aggression and desire they would have to want to win the match. They came out firing on all cylinders and we were behind the pace compared to them. We were not as sharp on the ball as they were and also they seemed to pass the ball around a lot better than we did. They also won the contests and pushed us off the ball. This was not going to plan and we were not playing as well as we thought we would.

New Zealand scored a very good goal in the second half that sealed the match for them. After they scored we panicked a bit as we knew we now needed to score 2 goals to win the match and although we tried as hard as we could it did not happen for us. We lost the match and with it our ranking of number 3 in the world. Blame can not be pointed at anyone but ourselves and we must now go away and assess our own individual performances and how we can now get even better as players and as a team.

We knew our second match would be exceptionally hard compared to the first match and we also knew that New Zealand were desperate to beat us as it gives them so much confidence and they really thrive on confidence and if they then went into the final having beat us in the round match that would give them the advantage against us. Both teams started the match at a high intensity and it did not ease up at all throughout the match for either team. I think New Zealand is a very good team and perhaps also very under rated in world hockey at the moment. I believe they are capable of beating any of the top teams and this will be evident in the next 12 months.

Both teams played some good hockey throughout the match and many chances were missed by both teams. Both goalkeepers played good hockey and saved some very good opportunities that kept the match scoreless until the second half. I felt we had more of the attack throughout the match but that is not to say New Zealand did not have their fair share of opportunities to win the match.  Madonna Blyth eventually put us on the scoreboard with about 12 minutes to go in the second half and we managed to hold the lead to come out eventual winners with a 1-0 score line in our advantage. I think the spectators enjoyed some good hockey which kept them on the edge of their seats. The positive thing about winning the match was that we now go into the final with the edge of having beat a quality team and then having to back it up and beat them again.

For the past ten days I have been in Buderim on the Sunshine Coast in QLD playing in the Olympic qualifiers tournament against New Zealand, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. The tournament proved interesting as both New Zealand and ourselves have in fact already qualified for the Olympics and the tournament ended up being for the rankings for the Olympics and for who would be in what group pools during the Olympics. It was a joint tournament with both the Men and Women playing and in the Men's tournament there was Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. It was different for the men as they had to actually win the tournament in order to qualify for the Olympics so a lot more was resting on their results. This was the first time in a long time, if at all, that the women had played Fiji or Papua New Guinea so it was to be an interesting and new process for us.