She’s been a scoring machine in the first two FIH Pro League campaigns.
Olivia Merry, the tall New Zealand striker has been the scourge of defenses with goal tallies of 16 from 15 matches in the first edition of the FIH Pro League in 2019 to finish top scorer.
She continued where she had left in the second edition, truncated by safety protocol over the Covid-19 pandemic. Olivia scored 11 goals from 10 matches and looked good for a lot more.
Twice has she scored four goals in a match – becoming the first woman to do so in the FIH Pro League. Against Belgium in early 2020, Olivia did all the scoring in a 4-1 scoreline and a few weeks later her quadruple strike helped New Zealand down top guns Argentina 5-3.
The 29-year-old has collected 238 caps after making her debut in 2012. She has slammed in 109 goals, going beyond Anita McLaren nee Punt’s Kiwi record tally of 105.
One of those goals was a later equalizer against Australia in the 2019 Oceania Cup which enabled New Zealand to draw with arch rivals Australia and seal a direct berth at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on goal difference over a three-match series that ended 1-1.
The Kiwis narrowly missed out on a medal at the last two Olympics where they finished fourth but with Olivia in the ranks, hopes of a podium finish must run high.
On her part, the star striker who never fails to give credit to her teammates for all the scoring she has done has stated that she’s aiming for nothing short of the gold medal in Tokyo.