Norway scored a 1-0 victory over New Zealand in the Olympic women's soccer tournament in Qinhuangdao on Saturday.

It is Norway's sixth consecutive win in its Olympic tournament, a new record for the team after it scored the quickest ever goal - two minutes into the match - in the last match against the United States.

The only goal came in the eighth minute when Norway's striker Melissa Wiik neatly headed Leni Larsen Kaurin's cross into the net.

It was also Wiik's second goal in this tournament after she found home once against the American side.

New Zealand almost leveled the score six minutes later with the same attacking, but Kirsty Yallop's header just went over the bar.

"I am very satisfied with the two wins in the first two games," Norway's head coach Bjame Berntsen said in the post-match press conference.

With six points in hand, Norway has now qualified for the final round. If it could beat Japan in the next group match, it will possibly meet DPR Korea or Canada in the quarterfinal.

"I am also satisfied with our defense. We didn't give New Zealand many opportunities," he said, when asked about New Zealand performance. "But they have very impressive team spirit."

"We always knew that Norway would be disciplined, hard to break down, but we didn't expect that much possession, "New Zealand's head coach John Herdman said. "Now we will have to beat the U.S. to move through, and we can do it."

Norway had five shots overall, while New Zealand had seven.

(Xinhua News Agency August 9, 2008)