SC teams perform well
The South Canterbury Collier Trophy girls’ team achieved their best finish in 31 years at their recent tournament in Tauranga.
The girls’ drew their final encounter with Bay of Plenty to finish seventh equal, their best performance since 1986.
Hockey South Canterbury’s future looks bright as the boys bettered the girls with a quality fifth placed finish. South Canterbury Collier Trophy coach William Sharp said the girls produced a fantastic week of hockey.
‘‘I was stoked at the way they played throughout the week, exceeded everyone’s expectations.’’
Sharp said their highlight was a come-from-behind victory over a plucky Waikato side. ‘‘We were down 1-0 but to remain focused and score two goals in the last 10 minutes was a great effort.’’
He said helping the girls achieve their best finish at the tournament in more than 30 years was a pretty proud achievement.
‘‘It’s something special to be a part of that but the credit has to go to the group of girls we had as they were amazing both on and off the field.’’
Izzy Sharp had a superb week netting seven goals, while Libby O’Connor, Libby Smith and Charli Nevin also had strong tournaments, but Sharp was full of praise for the fabulous efforts put in by all the players throughout the week.
Meanwhile, a 2-0 win for South Canterbury over rivals Canterbury secured the Hatch Cup side fifth place.
Hatch Cup coach Colleen Suddaby said the boys produced a fantastic week of hockey to claim a top five spot.
‘‘I’m really proud of them and super pleased with how well they did. The whole team were just fantastic all week.’’
Suddaby said improving on their 13th place from 2016 was a great achievement.
‘‘Fifth place is a great effort, It could have been even higher but they played really well all week, good positive hockey.’’
Their highlight was knocking over Auckland in pool play, while a first up win against Northland was another strong showing.
‘‘Those results really gave the boys belief that they could do well and they certainly did that, it was just unfortunate that nothing stuck for us against Taranaki.’’
Baxter Mason and Dougall Gibson were their two standouts across the week but a number of others produced quality showings such as Mitchell Suddaby, who was at his second tournament, Jonathon Rollinson, and Connor Guthrie.
Suddaby hoped to take the team again in 2018, with seven returning players eligible for selection.