A TWEED hockey player has added another masters gold medal to her bulging trophy cabinet after helping her Australian side defeat New Zealand in a trans-Tasman clash.

Playing across the ditch in Whangarei, New Zealand in April, Murwillumbah's golden girl Karen Iwanuscha and her over 50's side took bragging rights from the Kiwis.

The win was extra sweet for Iwanuscha after the Aussies were on the back foot early and staring at defeat in the three-match series.

"We lost the first game 1-nil, but we were confident that we were the better team and should have won,” Iwanuscha said.

The Australians rallied to return serve with a 1-nil defeat of New Zealand in game two to square the ledger.

Game three was a tense affair, but Iwanuscha said her side were able to hold their nerve to claim the gold in a grandstand finish.

"At full time it was nil-all, so we had to go to a shoot-out which was very nerve racking,” she said.

"Our goal keeper was just awesome and we won the shoot out 2-nil to give us the gold.”

Australia's over 40s women also won gold, and in the men's, Australia won all age groups except for the 50's to help Australia retain the Trans-Tasman Trophy by just six points.

The gold medal was a third for Iwanuscha, who has represented Australia at masters level every year since 2010.

She struck gold with Australia in the 2015 Trans- Tasman in Melbourne and the 2016 Masters World Cup in Canberra.

Iwanuscha will now set her sights on qualifying for Australia's over 55's side for the 2018 Masters World Cup in Barcelona, Spain.