Oxfordshire's Zoe Shipperley was lost for words after she helped England beat New Zealand 3-1 in a thrilling penalty shoot-out yesterday.

Lily Owsley put England ahead and it looked to be enough, only for Katie Glynn to level in the last minute.

The game then went into a penalty shuffle shoot-out where England goalkeeper Maddy Hinch saved three penalties to set up a gold final meeting with Australia tonight (8.15pm).

Shipperley, who lives in Marsh Gibbon, said: “It was absolutely amazing. I don’t know how to put it into words, but it is great to come out of that game with the win.

“We have been ticking boxes all the way through and we are now in the final.

“The last box to be ticked is the gold medal and that is what we are going for.”

The former St Edward’s School, Oxford teacher added: “We were confident about the shoot-out because we have Maddy, the best goalkeeper in the tournament and I knew she would nail it and that made us very positive.”

Today (10am) former Oxford University student Dan Fox hopes to help England men’s hockey team beat Australia to seal a place in tomorrow’s final.

  •  Do you want alerts delivered straight to your phone via our WhatsApp service? Text NEWS or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone’s contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed.

Latest Sport news