Central women grab gold
The Central under-18 women’s team has remained undefeated for the second year in a row at the national tournament.
At the national tournament in Dunedin last week, the women took home gold and kept their winning streak alive.
Coach Verity Sharland said she was happy to win the back-toback tournaments, because the team had changed slightly from the previous year.
‘‘We had a whole new defence, other than our goalie, so they did really well.’’
In pool matches, they had two large wins against Southern 8-0 and Capital 10-1.
They had a 2-2 draw in their final pool match against Auckland before Central won in a penalty shootout.
Their next match was against North Harbour, who they beat 3-1.
Due to the way the draw panned out, they had a match against Canterbury on Friday, even though they were already locked in to play them on Saturday in the final.
Central won the Friday match 5-1, but in the final they drew 2-2 before the match headed to a penalty shootout.
Sharland said they won that comfortably, taking home the gold.
Central goalkeeper Kelly Carline was named the keeper of the tournament and Olivia Shannon was the top goal scorer and most valuable player.
Sharland said it was hard to pick a standout because all the girls played well. ‘‘The screens and the strikers played awesome.’’
She said their biggest challenge heading into tournament was making sure the team was mentally prepared because being defending champions brought a lot of pressure.
‘‘They were a really highachieving bunch who wanted to do really well. It was about getting them into the right headspace.’’
She said they were lucky to have a visit from All Black Luke Whitelock, who spoke to the girls about how to cope with pressure and moments of tension.
‘‘That made a huge difference,’’ she said.
They also received a video message wishing the team good luck from Beauden Barrett.
The men’s under-18 team also travelled to Dunedin, where they came fifth, which coach Jake Blanks said was a disappointment.
‘‘We had a really good team and we were expecting to win.’’
On the first day they played Auckland and lost 4-2, which Blanks said shocked them.
They won their next match against Northland 3-2, but on the final day of pool play they lost to North Harbour 2-1, which cost them the top-four spot.
Blanks said that match had a finals feel about it as they were two of the stronger teams there.
They played Southern and beat them comfortably to get into 5th-place playoffs, where they beat Canterbury 6-5.
Key players of the tournament included Jordan Cohen and Sachan Dahdra.
The under-18 women’s national association tournament was held in Palmerston North last week also.
The Manawatu¯ team came 17th-equal.
The team started the tournament strongly, winning their first three pool games, but they lost their last pool game to Hawke’s Bay 2-1.
They lost to Canterbury in the quarterfinal and this sent them on a downward slope, before they managed a draw in their last game against North Harbour.
The Manawatu¯ men’s under-18 team finished 15th at their association tournament.
Palmerston North club hockey draw: Men: Marist v Massey, 1.30pm; High School Hockey Club v College, 3pm; Palmerston North Boys’ High School v Levin: Manawatu¯ College Old Boys, 4pm. Women: College v Massey, 1.30pm; High School Hockey Club v Palmerston North Girls’ High School, 3pm.