Patchy in their ability to link through the midfield and in the circle, Northland were well marked by Auckland which forced errors and displaced confidence.
Smothering the hosts en route to halftime, Auckland got on top of the scorecard early with Liz Thompson smashing home a penalty corner shot.
The defending champions went on to score two more goals in the first half through Katie Glynn and Julia King.
A superb crowd turned out to cheer the local girls, but as the clouds overhead began to rain down on the LJ Hooker turf, the receding water washed away any chance of Northland turning on a win for their vocal, loyal home fans.
Proving too good on both sides of the ball, Auckland sealed the result with three further goals from Deanna Ritchie, Sam Harrison and Monique Wilson.
Despite the loss, Northland defender Brooke Neal was named Women's Most Valuable Player for the tournament after a top-class week of hockey.
Known to be plagued by bad starts, yesterday was no different from Northland.
"I've almost stopped addressing it because we talk about it and it happens nearly every time [when] we've either conceded a goal or under high pressure," Northland coach Angeline Waetford said.
"There's always crucial times in the game. One's at the start, then after each goal is scored then at halftime - they're all crucial times and you've got to switch on straight away."
Asked if her side had peaked too early Waetford said: "No not at all, obviously with Stacey [Michelsen] being taken out with injury we've had to work out how we direct traffic."
Down but not out, Northland hockey fans will have to wait and see if third time lucky spells true for Northland in 2016.
"We're just good at scrapping, that's just the Northland way - we're battlers, we're tough, we're gutsy," Waetford added.
