Hockey: NZ women look to eliminate soft mistakes

The New Zealand women's hockey team will look to eliminate soft mistakes as they target a top-eight finish at the World Cup starting in Argentina next month.

An 18-strong squad for the 12-nation tournament in Rosario were named today and feature the return from injury of skipper and Central midfielder Kayla Sharland and Northland midfielder Anna Thorpe.

The pair were initially selected for the six-team Champions Trophy in England this month, before pulling out.

In their absence, the Blacks Sticks finished a creditable fifth in Nottingham, a result that pushed their world ranking up two places to No 7.

Along the way, they beat world No 3 China and drew with England, but also leaked five goals to their opening World Cup opponents Germany.

Coach Mark Hager said his players were aware they faced a tough start to the upcoming tournament, which runs from August 29 to September 11.

"We know Germany are going to be hard, they beat us 5-2," he said.

"But when I look at that game, I go, how did we lose 5-2? It was mainly because of soft mistakes in our attack and defence, so we need to look at that."

Other countries in New Zealand's pool are world No 1 and defending champions the Netherlands, Germany and Australia, and two teams ranked below the Black Sticks in Japan and India.

To achieve their goal of finishing in the top eight, they need to place at least fourth in their pool.

Hager said lessons from the Champions Trophy included the need to tighten up the defence at set pieces, not turning the ball over in transition and avoiding being exposed at the back when moving forward on a counterattack.

He noted that New Zealand conceded an average of more than three goals over their six games.

"If we do that, we are not going to compete because we are going to have to score four," he said.

"If we can keep them down to one or two, this team is capable of hitting two or three per game, so we can upset a few teams."

Along with the Champions Trophy and the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in October, the World Cup is one of three big tournaments for the Black Sticks this year and is the most prestigious.

Hockey New Zealand chief executive Hilary Poole described the squad as a relatively young one and rated them as being ahead of schedule as they built towards the long-term goal of qualifying for and being competitive at the 2012 Olympics in London.

She praised the Black Sticks' performance at the Champions Trophy, adding: "They are knocking on the door of the top six and they are ahead of where we expected them to be at this stage."

Sharland is one of three players in the squad with more than 100 caps, the others being Central defender Emily Naylor and Canterbury midfielder Stacey Carr.

Two others, Auckland striker Krystal Forgesson and Wellington goalkeeper Beth Jurgeleit, are in line to reach the century milestone during the World Cup.