After their dramatic 1-0 victory over Kristin School in the last week of Term One to qualify for the top division of the Auckland competition, the Girls Hockey First XI will be competing against the best teams in Auckland and North Harbour this year so the tournament provided the coach Steve Davison with the opportunity to try different players and new systems ahead of the upcoming season. The team made huge strides as a group in the latter part of the tournament to give them some encouragement ahead of the challenging season.
In their opening match of the tournament on Wednesday evening, the team scored first against New Plymouth Girls High School with a penalty corner strike from Tahara-Jayne Rusden Rowley and dominated the first half, creating further opportunities but being unable to convert them. In a game of two halves, New Plymouth dominated the second period and scored three unanswered goals to beat King’s 3-1. It was a tough lesson for the team who had dominated the match in the first half and should have been three or four up at half-time.
On Thursday morning, the team again created lots of chances but could not convert them and lost 0-2 to St Peter’s College, but had some lengthy coaching sessions in the afternoon and the team made huge strides in their second game on Thursday, playing superbly to crush Sacred Heart Hamilton 5-0 with a hat-trick from Suzie Kennelly and one apiece from Tahara-Jayne Rusden Rowley and Sophie Stening.
On Friday, the team continued its fine form, beating hosts St Paul’s Collegiate 4-1 with two goals from Emerson Dalziel and one each from Kara McLeay and Victoria Jagusch and the tired team did enough to beat Mount College 1-0 in their final match with a well-taken goal from Kara McLeay.
This coming Thursday 5 May, the team plays its first game of the season in the Auckland Premier competition with a tough opening match, a home game against Westlake Girls High School at 6.05pm. It would be great to get some support for the team as they return to hockey in the top division of Auckland and North Harbour.
Team (in alphabetical order): Amelia Alston (Year 11, Middlemore), Alex Bow (Year 12, Taylor), Emerson Dalziel (Year 11, Marion Bruce), Sasha Gabriel (Year 12, Taylor), Kate Gibson (Year 12, Taylor), Anna Hamilton (Year 12, Marion Bruce), Kate Illerbrun (Year 11, Middlemore), Victoria Jagusch (Year 12, Marion Bruce), Suzie Kennelly (Year 12, Middlemore), Francesca Macfarlane (Year 13, Middlemore), Ella McKay (Year 12, Middlemore), Kara McLeay (Year 13, Marion Bruce), Juliette Mines (Year 13, Marion Bruce), Claudia Moller (Year 12, Marion Bruce), Ella Nesdale (Year 13, Taylor), Tahara-Jayne Rusden Rowley (Year 13, Marion Bruce), Sophie Stening (Year 11, Middlemore), Ana Wijffels (Year 11, Taylor)
Staff: Steven Davison (Head Coach), Simon Norton (Head of Hockey), Keith Rowley (Acting Manager/Assistant Coach), Kim McWilliams (Camp Mum – Ella Nesdale’s mother)
Keith Rowley
Acting Team Manager & Assistant Coach
