Nelson go unbeaten to hold trophy

The Nelson under-15 girls’ representative hockey team remained unbeaten to retain the JD Trophy in Westport at the weekend.

Nelson recorded wins over Marlborough (5-1), West Coast (2-1) and Buller (14-0) to secure their eighth title success in nine years.

Jess Davidson and Caitlin Clementson both scored from penalty corners, before Trinity Copper added a third goal to give Nelson a handy 3-1 halftime lead in their opening clash with Marlborough.

Despite trying some new combinations in the second half, Nelson went further ahead through two goals by Lucy Tucker to complete a comfortable win. Goalie Laura Spearson and defenders Miya Ellis and Grace Ashcroft impressed for Nelson.

West Coast provided much tougher opposition for Nelson in an evenly-contested second match, with Lily Campbell producing the only first half scoring to put Nelson ahead 1-0 at the break.

West Coast came out firing from the restart to force several penalty corners before eventually levelling the scores at 1-1. But Nelson regrouped, with Davidson scoring from another penalty corner conversion to complete the 2-1 win.

Nelson’s outstanding performers were Clementson and Demi Mant who fed the ball effectively into the scoring circle.

Campbell and Mant each scored hat-tricks in Nelson’s final comprehensive 14-0 win over Buller.

Nelson dominated from the outset and led 6-0 at halftime before pouring in another eight second half goals. Davidson, Tucker and Cooper each scored twice, with Sophia Kersten and Britney Borann also contributing goals.