Canterbury women, men lead the way
Canterbury’s men’s and women’s teams both beat Auckland to move to the top of the standings in their respective National Hockey Leagues in Whangarei on Wednesday.
The Canterbury Cavaliers bounced back from Tuesday’s loss to North Harbour to win 3-1 and move to the top of the men’s standings and secure a spot in the final, while the Cats held on down the stretch to win their game 2-1 and stay on top of the women’s competition.
All seven teams in each league have a day off on Thursday, before the Cavaliers and Cats play Midlands in their final round-robin games on Friday.
There was a few anxious moments down the stretch for the Cats, but they held on to beat Auckland and improve their record to four wins from five games, and within a sniff of snaring a spot in the final.
Cats coach Andy Innes said it was a ‘‘very tense’’ finish to the match, which included his tiring side rebuffing a last-gasp penalty corner and holding out Auckland down the stretch.
Canterbury took a 1-0 lead through Anne Mackechnie, who blasted a penalty stroke into the roof of the net, in just the eighth minute of the match.
Despite Auckland enjoying a wealth of chances, they couldn’t convert and Canterbury doubled their lead eight minutes from time through international guest player Emily Maguire.
With a little help from a deflection of an Auckland defender, Maguire, who helped Great Britain win Olympic bronze four years ago in London, scored from a penalty corner.
Auckland dragged a goal back a couple of minutes later, but Canterbury managed to keep them out during a frantic final spell.
‘‘There certainly was some anxious moments,’’ Innes said. ‘‘We were very tired, [Jenny Storey] got a card as well, so we were down to 10.
‘‘They had chances to score but our defence played really well for the second game in a row. I think that’s probably one thing standing out at the moment - our determination in defence to hang in there.’’
On the back of goals by Willie Davidson, Richard Bain and captain Nick Haig, the Cavaliers knocked over Auckland 3-1 to take advantage of North Harbour’s 2-1 loss to Capital.
Harbour, which has finished the round-robin stage, had been leading the competition, but losing to the defending champions opened the door for Canterbury to secure their spot in the final with a game to spare.
Davidson opened the scoring in the 15th minute after he was left open in the circle to fire home, before Bain made it 2-0 in the 40th minute.
Haig blasted in a third from a penalty corner a minute from time, while Auckland scrambled in a late goal to avoid being shut out.