The Gisborne Girls’ High School football team who finished fourth in the Grant Jarvis Tournament in Hamilton. Back (from left): Zoe Findlay (manager), Jade McVey (co-captain), Lucy McDiarmid (co-captain), Alex Mackay, Natalie Land, Frankie Gooding, Charlotte McDiarmid, Isabelle Higgins, Hayley Richardson, Betsy Findlay and Lee Smith (coach). Front: Naia Erickson, Gemma McDonald, Cleo Brenchley, Rylee Barker, Sefa Contreras-Rojas, Elliott Smith and Madison Smith.
The Gisborne Girls’ High School football team who finished fourth in the Grant Jarvis Tournament in Hamilton. Back (from left): Zoe Findlay (manager), Jade McVey (co-captain), Lucy McDiarmid (co-captain), Alex Mackay, Natalie Land, Frankie Gooding, Charlotte McDiarmid, Isabelle Higgins, Hayley Richardson, Betsy Findlay and Lee Smith (coach). Front: Naia Erickson, Gemma McDonald, Cleo Brenchley, Rylee Barker, Sefa Contreras-Rojas, Elliott Smith and Madison Smith.
Gisborne Girls’ High School finished fourth out of 32 teams competing in the Grant Jarvis secondary schoolgirls’ football tournament at Gower Park in Hamilton.
They won three games, drew two and lost two in a five-day programme.
The 16-strong squad comprised four Year 9 girls who played youthleague football, one (Elliott Smith) who played senior football for the Wainui Riverina team who won the Tairāwhiti women’s championship, and 11 who played for the Thistle team that placed third in the competition.
Games were 30 minutes each way on full-size pitches.
Left back Naia Erickson was MVP (most valuable player) for Gisborne Girls’ High in a 0-0 draw with St Mary’s College of Auckland in their opening game.
Girls’ High drew 1-1 with Bethlehem College, of the Bay of Plenty, in the second game. Midfielder Natalie Land scored Gisborne’s goal and co-captain Lucy McDiarmid was MVP.
Gisborne Girls’ High School midfielder Natalie Land shields the ball from a St Mary’s College player at the Grant Jarvis Tournament in Hamilton. Photo / Isabelle Higgins
Against Te Awamutu College, Girls’ High needed to win by five goals to qualify for the top 16. They led 1-0 at halftime and scored four goals in the last 20 minutes to go through with a 5-0 scoreline. Rylee Barker scored a hat-trick and Madison Smith and McDiarmid scored a goal each.
Auckland’s Carmel College led 1-0 at halftime and Madison Smith equalised two minutes from full-time. The game went to penalties, where Madison Smith, McDiarmid, Jade McVey and Elliott Smith scored with “ice-cold” precision, according to coach Lee Smith.
Girls’ High did not need to take their fifth penalty, as they went through with a 4-2 penalty shootout win.
Gisborne went through to the top four when they beat St Cuthberts College, of Auckland, on penalties after regulation time ended with the score 1-1. Goalkeeper Rylee Barker saved two of three attempts and, again, the first four Girls’ High penalty-takers scored and the fifth was not required.
The semifinal against a physical Avondale College side was a battle in which centre back Elliott Smith had a titanic contest with the striker she was marking. She was the only Gisborne player who played every minute of all seven games and was her side’s MVP in this one.
In the third/fourth playoff, Gisborne Girls’ High lost 5-1 to Bethlehem College, the team with whom they had drawn 1-1 in pool play.
“Bethlehem played probably the best football we saw at the tournament, and our girls were exhausted by this time,” coach Lee Smith said.
“We were in the game for the first 15 minutes and then we ran out of gas. They were 2-0 up at halftime, and it was 4-0 before Jade McVey scored our goal.
“Madison Smith had a tough battle with the Bethlehem left-winger, and Charlotte McDiarmid and Betsy Findlay also did well.
“Throughout the tournament we had problems with players being injured or ill. In the first Bethlehem game, Naia [Erickson] was hurt in a challenge and ended up with concussion, in another game Natalie Land lost a toenail, and Jade McVey played only three or four halves because she had food poisoning.”
It was the last school football tournament for Year 13 students Lucy McDiarmid and Jade McVey, while Year 9 players Betsy Findlay, Madison Smith, Rylee Barker and Cleo Brenchley gained valuable experience, Lee Smith said.
Up to the last game, Girls’ High had conceded only six goals in six games.
Smith said that centre backs Elliott Smith and Frankie Gooding and fullbacks Cleo Brenchley and Charlotte McDiarmid had some tough contests against lively opponents, but the defence generally held firm.
Many of the team played for Gisborne Laundry Services Wainui Riverina or Allan Kellett Panel and Paint Thistle in the Federation Cup quarterfinals in Napier on the Sunday following the tournament.
Wainui Riverina lost 6-1 to Napier City Rovers and Thistle lost 4-0 to Whanganui Athletic.
