KUALA LUMPUR: The national women's hockey team gave New Zealand their money's worth in the second friendly at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Saturday.
The scoreline was 5-0 in favour of New Zealand, but all were soft goals.
Goalkeeper Haslinda Zainal Abidin, 19, gave her teammates the confidence by pulling off good saves in the opening three quarters she was given between the posts.
Haslinda is second to Zalia Nasir, who played four quarters in the first friendly on Friday when Malaysia lost 6-0.
Haslinda, an indoor goalkeeper turned field player, was not afraid of the towering New Zealand strikers and was confident.
The Malaysian women will head to Valencia, Spain, soon for the Olympic Qualifier, where they will Britain (World No. 7), Spain (No. 8) and Canada (No. 16).
New Zealand will head for Ranchi, India, to play in their Olympic Qualifier as well.
"I played indoor hockey in the recent Sea Games and then turned into a field player in the Asian Games. Now that I have been given a chance to play in the Olympic Qualifier, I will give my best when the coach calls me up from the bench," said Haslinda.
Malaysia played much better on Saturday than the first friendly. They did not give away more than five penalty corners and defended well in numbers.
Their fitness was also a helping element as Malaysia came out in the last quarter to attack but missed their chances.
While the men's KPI is to finish top three in their Olympic Qualifier in Oman on Jan 15-21, the women are only expected to challenge Canada for world ranking points during the group stage in Valencia on Jan 13-21.
Fixtures
Jan 13: Malaysia v Spain (6.45pm); Jan 14: Malaysia v Canada (4.40pm); Jan 16: Malaysia v Britain (9.15pm).
* Malaysian time.