A tie was more than enough for the New Zealand side to end the day in high spirits as they produced arguably the shock of the tournament so far against world and Olympic champions The Netherlands.

A sturdy Kiwi defence was tested time and time again by the formidable Dutch forwards but held strong on numerous occasions.

That said, it was The Netherlands who scored first when Caia van Maasakker converted a 28th minute penalty corner with a powerful drag flick, her shot flying into the Black Sticks net at pace.

The goal only proved to spur the New Zealanders on, however, as they hit back in the final quarter through Olivia Merry to level the tie at one apiece.

Despite a later onslaught by the six-time champions, The Netherlands could not break down the Kiwis again as the score ended all square for a point a piece.

"We had to work so hard to get in front of the Dutch to defend, particularly in that last quarter," said New Zealand's Brooke Neal.

"Once we scored our goal we knew we would be pressured so we had to be really disciplined."

New Zealand shocked The Netherlands as they stole a point against the Olympic and world champions on day two of the Women's Champions Trophy ©FIH



Blink and you will miss it.

That was the case in China's match against Japan as each team scored within a minute of the other to break an otherwise dead-locked encounter.

Mie Nakashima opened the scoring for Japan in the 25th minute as she deflected a penalty corner into the back of the Chinese net.

Li Jiaqi struck back seconds later for China, pouncing on a rebound to smash the Beijing 2008 silver medallist's level at one each.

Superiority swung from side to side for the remainder of the match with neither team able to carve out the decisive winner.

Both England and Germany were looking for their first points of the tournament when they met in the third of today's games.

A 1-1 draw gave both teams their wish as they occupy the bottom two spots of Pool B on a point apiece.

England started the stronger of the two teams but failed to make their early pressure count, and it was Germany that took the lead after 22 minutes.

Kristina Hillmann had a chance to score as Lisa Schutze sent it down the line, but saw her shot go wide.

Seconds later she made up for that miss by knocking a bouncing ball past the onlooking England goalkeeper.

England reaffirmed their dominance in the second half and were rewarded in the 40th minute when Ellie Watton scored her second goal of the tournament.

Georgie Twigg had the opportunity to score the winner for England in the final quarter but saw her penalty stroke saved by Germany's Kristina Reynolds after a Hannah Macleod shot was stopped on the line by a German defender.

European rivals England and Germany saw their second day encounter end all square at one apiece at the Women's Champions Trophy in Argentina ©FIH



The final match was a feisty encounter between world number two Australia and world number three, and hosts, Argentina.

Much like the previous three games, this was a match of rapidly changing dominance, with both teams switching between periods of sustained pressure and last ditch defending.

Argentina started the brighter of the two teams as they dominated the opening two periods.

It was the Australians, typically, that took the lead therefore, with Emily Smith slotting the ball past the outstretched Belen Succi in the Argentine goal following some great work by the ever-bright Georgia Nanscawen.

The match turned scrappy in the third quarter before the pace picked up again in the fourth.

It was here that Argentina notched the equaliser as the formidable Luciana Aymar took the ball along the back line and was then on hand to put her own rebounded shot away to the delight of the crowds.

A rest day breaks up play tomorrow before the final Pool fixture on Tuesday (December 2) sees Australia take on Germany, England face Argentina, China take on New Zealand and The Netherlands face off against Japan.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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