Highlanders prevail in tense semifinal

THE City Highlanders maintained their status as favourites for the Dunedin premier women’s title with a shootout win over Momona in a tense semifinal on Saturday.

Momona had an early penalty corner and thought it had scored but Highlanders goalie Ginny Wilson somehow kept the ball out.

The Highlanders had a few penalty corner chances of their own but the Momona defence was solid.

Momona finally scored first from a solid penalty corner routine, Nicole Strawbridge managing to sneak one in past the post.

It remained 10 until late in the game when the Highlanders made the big call to take Wilson off and play another striker up front.

That had the desired effect as Jordon Cunningham, amid the chaos, scored to make it 11 with the clock ticking, and eventually a shootout was called.

The Highlanders converted two of their shots and Momona just one.

It means Momona will play the University Huskies in the midweek lifeline game to see who plays City in the final.

The second women’s semifinal unfolded in similar fashion as the Huskies beat the Taieri Tigers in a shootout.

Underdog Taieri took an early lead when Ava Beens sent the ball in with just enough bobble on it to confuse goalkeeper Pippa Croft.

The Huskies pushed back, and equalised when Iso Ng found herself with some space in the circle and got a clean shot off.

Neither side could find a winner, so the semifinal also went to a shootout, where the Huskies won 20.

Kings United secured fifth place with a 32 win over the University Stingrays.

On the men’s side, the Albany Alligators beat the University Whales 20.

Nick Parata capitalised on some early pressure to give the Alligators the lead, and while the Whales applied some pressure of their own, they could not convert their chances.

The Alligators found a second goal through a clinical penalty corner routine, and the Whales could not climb back into the game as they gave up several green cards.

In a thrilling second men’s semifinal, the Taieri Tuataras beat Kings United 21 when a Kings goal was disallowed.

Jordan Ward was as solid as ever, scoring yet another goal for the Tuataras.

But the Kings men created plenty of opportunities of their own, and Daniel Torr stepped up to level the scores.

The Tuataras scored again through Jarrod Casey to make it 21, and when a Kings goal was overturned, it meant Taieri was straight into the final.

Kings will play Albany in the midweek game to determine who plays the Tuataras.

Tainui beat the University Panthers 31 in the fifthsixth playoff. Jared Ovens, Nick Dalziel and Jacob Smith scored the goals for Tainui.