Extra time was needed to crown Northland as the McGrath Trophy champion in the Collier Development hockey tournament held in Whakatane.
It was 12 years since Northland had won the trophy and Northland U13 coach Julie Crum said it was a great effort by the girls who had had asuccessful lead up to the tournament, remaining unbeaten throughout.
"The girls had improved markedly over the three months leading up to the tournament and thoroughly deserved to win the trophy," she said.
But they had to go through a nail-biting final before they finally lifted the trophy.
The final match against a much-improved Waikato team went into extra time after the score remained locked at 0-0 at the end of normal time.
Northland waited until nine minutes into the golden goal extra time before they converted, after a great team build up, securing the win and the McGrath trophy.
Northland beat Tauranga in the first game 3-0, followed by a 9-0 win over Poverty Bay. The semifinal against North Harbour proved to be a tough match with North Harbour scoring in the last seconds to draw the match 2 -2. A draw was enough for Northland to proceed to the final against Waikato who had beaten last year's winners Canterbury in a tight 1-0 match.
