AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Former champion Norway vented its ire on the Philippines on Sunday en route to an emphatic 6-0 victory that sent the Filipinas crashing out of the FIFA Women's World Cup after their Group A match at the Eden Park.

The Norwegians had been unimpressive in their first two matches and they finally came alive and lived up to their lofty billing by inflicting heavy damage early.

Sophie Roman Haug pulled off a hat trick brick, scoring in the sixth, 17th and 95 minutes to shove Norway to the Last 16 knockout stage.

Celebrated striker Caroline Graham Hansen had a blistering goal for the other marker in the 31st minute while Guro Reiten converted a penalty kick in the 53rd minute that boosted the former World Cup champions to second place on super goal difference.

On a miserable night for the charges of Australian coach Alen Stajcic, defender Alicia Barker came off the bench and  scored an own goal in the 48th minute while substitute Sofia Harrison was flashed a red card 11th minutes later that left them with only 10 players on the pitch.

Also seeing their bid of advancing to the next round cut short were the hometown Ferns, who were held to a frustrating scoreless draw by Switzerland at the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin.

Thanks largely to their 1-0 win over the Philippines in the same venue last week, the Swiss sealed top spot in the group with five points while the Norwegians took second with four points on superior goal difference as they both made it to the knockout round.

New Zealand, which finished third, and the Philippines, were left out in the cold.

At the post-match press conference, Stajcic conceded that they lost to a much superior team.

"As we said, they are a very classy team. They were favorites to win this group and they showed some of their class today," he noted.

"They really picked us apart in some of the battles in the box early and this allowed them to be more creative as the game went on."