Hockey: Boys win but girls slip

Queensland Under-18 got their revenge last night but there was no shortage of positives for the Hawke's Bay Under-18 girls' hockey team.

"We fought till the end and there was some outstanding work from our defenders," coach Matthew Witheford said after his team's 3-2 loss at Park Island.

Hawke's Bay had won the previous night's encounter 4-3.

Witheford was full of praise for the night's work completed by defenders Lydia Watts and Talitha Holt.

"Lydia saved a goal on the line and made a couple of good tackles in the circle. Lydia and Talitha kept us in the game longer than we could have been."

Striker Helaina Snell scored both of the Bay's goals. She opened the scoring with a field goal in the 21st minute.

Queensland equalised with a 32nd minute penalty corner converted by Isabella Forsyth and the score remained 1-all until the halftime whistle.

The tourists took a 2-1 lead two minutes into the second half when Rebecca Church converted a penalty corner. Two minutes later the Aussies were ahead 3-1 courtesy of an Aleesa Ferguson field goal.

Snell scored her second field goal a minute from the final whistle.

"Queensland came out hard in the second half and ran around us. We were on defence for 10 to 15 minutes and those two quick goals they got cost us ... one of them came when our keeper [Brearna Wiig] slipped over in a one-on-one situation. We played better hockey during the last 10 minutes," Witheford added.

The boys bounced back from a scoreless first half to beat the Queenslanders 3-1 in the later match.

Taylor Wood struck twice from penalty corners in the 38th and 44th minutes to make it 2-0 before Dylan Thomas extended it by one with a field goal in the 48th minute.

Dylan Plummer pulled one back for the tourists in the 58th minute.

"The first half wasn't the result we wanted but in the second spell we pulled finger and got the result I was asking for," coach Mark Ramage said last night. He named co-captains Oscar Stewart and Joe Hanks as well as centre forward Regan Hughes as players of the match.

The win also meant no eight-second shootout to decide the winners.