SC second again in Hatch Cup

The South Canterbury under-13 boys’ hockey team has finished second at the national Hatch Cup tournament for the second straight year.

The team was beaten 2-0 in the final in Palmerston North on Sunday by Horowhenua.

South Canterbury had earlier topped its pool with four wins and a draw, beating Taranaki 6-0, Counties-Manukau 4-1, Nelson and Mid Canterbury both 5-1 and drawing with Marlborough 1-all.

Hawke’s Bay was eliminated 1-0 in the quarterfinals in a penalty shoot out after the scores were tied 1-all.

South Canterbury then ended Canterbury’s hopes, again in a penalty shoot-out, after the scores were 1-all at the end of regular time. In the final South Canterbury could find no way through the Horowhenua defence and conceded goals in the 27th and 28th minutes of the second half.

Will Lemon and Jacob Suddaby were South Canterbury’s leading scorers over the week-long tournament which featured teams from 23 regions, with four each while Flynn Brookland and Logan Peck had three each.

South Canterbury’s under-13 girls team finished 18th out of 21 teams in the national Collier Trophy tournament played in Wellington.

The region’s under-15 boys’ and girls’ teams, competing at their respective championship tournaments in Wanganui and Nelson enjoyed good success, finishing third and second.

The u15 girls lost the final 1-0 to Canterbury in the 13-team event with Brooke Bray the tournament’s equal leading goal scorer with six. The boys won their third-fourth playoff match 8-2 over Wanganui, which included a hat-trick to Cooper Mason. Nick Stephenson led the team’s goalscoring on seven.