McCaw goal wins it for Midlands
Midlands have snuck past Capital to setup a National Hockey League semifinal against Auckland.
A Gemma McCaw field goal in the fourth minute was enough for the 1-0 win at the National Hockey Stadium in Wellington yesterday.
It was a game which Midlands controlled for long periods, creating a host of chances to extend their lead, although Capital weren’t without the odd good chance down the other end.
It resulted in levels of frustration from both camps postmatch, with Midlands captain Sam Charlton saying her side would need to remain patient in today’s semifinal.
‘‘We jneed to be careful we don’t get too stressed if we’re not scoring because we are a team that creates a lot of opportunities. We need to be patient in the fact that if we don’t score it will come.’’
Charlton said they were guilty of reducing their intensity after McCaw’s early goal.
‘‘I thought our first quarter was really good and we did dominate that, but we sort of took the foot off the accelerator a bit and gave them a few opportunities.
‘‘Capital have some really fast, skilful players and we struggled with that at times, but we’re just looking to try and improve each game so when it comes semifinals and finals we’re really humming through that full game.’’
After Capital weathered the first-half storm, they came out firing in the second half. They earned a penalty corner within 15 seconds of the restart, before a cross just eluded Felicity Reidy as the third quarter came to a close.
Capital coach Hugh Rosemergy was proud of how his team fought back from the early setback, but was left to think of what might have been in the second half.
‘‘In the first 15 we lacked a bit of pace, looked about a yard behind, but we addressed that, got back into the game and certainly created opportunities, but we just couldn’t convert them.
‘‘They gave themselves every opportunity to win it, but for a dive when it just gets on the end of a stick we could well be going through to the semis.’’
In the other quarterfinals, Auckland needed a shootout to beat Central, who finished bottom of pool B. Normal play finished 1-1, before Black Stick Samantha Harrison scored the sudden death winner.
North Harbour got revenge over Canterbury for their defeat in last year’s final with a 2-1 win. Stephanie Dickins scored a double, including the winner with two minutes to go.
They will meet Northland in their semifinal, after the latter easily saw off winless Southern 7-1.
In the men’s quarterfinals, Midlands suffered a similar fate to the Central women, forcing top qualifier Auckland into a shootout before losing in sudden death.
They might feel a bit hard done by, with Erik Bouwens’ appearing to be tripped by Auckland goalkeeper Devon Manchester, before his sprawling shot crossed the line just after the hooter went. Calls for a retake fell on deaf ears.
Capital will face Auckland in tomorrow’s first semifinal after a come-from-behind win over Canterbury. Their import duo of Oscar Wookey (Australian) and Daan Jangejan (Dutch) helped to cancel out Sam Lane’s effort.
Southern are also through to the semis after beating Central. Kieran O’Connor turned home a cross with three minutes to go to get the winner as his side turned a 2-1 halftime deficit into a 3-2 win.
They will meet undefeated North Harbour in the second semifinal after they hammered Northland 7-0.