Northern under-21s on form

The Northern under-21 team started as they meant to continue on the opening day of the national Under-21 hockey tournament at Whangarei's ITM Rosvall Stadium.
With high expectations of making their third consecutive final this Saturday, the Northern women got off to the best possible start, dominating the Capital girls and winning 5-0.
Coach Angeline Waetford said "without sounding arrogant" Capital were lucky it was wet - otherwise the score margin would have been much bigger.
Charlotte Harrison scored two for the Northern side, while Natasha Fitzsimons, Anna Weir and Carli Michelsen secured one goal apiece.
Northern backed up to win 6-3 against a hardened Midlands contingent, putting in a polished performance.
"Today [yesterday] was always going to be a test for us," Waetford said. "We played Midlands last week in a pre-season hitout and only won one-nil. It was a much improved performance today."
Like Northern, the Waikato/Bay of Plenty team also had a lot of pace up front.
However, the quality of the Northern outfit's strikers was top-notch, and they lifted the side, leaving the opposition struggling to match them.
"It doesn't matter what three strikers we put up front, they all do a great job," the coach said.
Northern have the choice of Stacey Michelsen, who was outstanding in the match against Midlands, scoring four goals, along with Petrea Webster, Jade Mcleod and Simone Hayley-Pettit, all of whom offered speed and accurate passing.
Webster and Kelsey Dunn were the other goal scorers yesterday, capping off a great team effort.
The Northern women were to play Central today at 3pm, followed by Southern tomorrow at 1pm, Canterbury on Wednesday at 4.30pm and Auckland on Thursday at 4pm. Canterbury and Auckland would be the ones to beat, Waetford said.
Meanwhile, in the men's division, a quality inter-island battle took place on Saturday with Southern clashing with the Northern men. It was a tough encounter, but Northern, which includes Northland's Shay Neal, triumphed 2-1, thanks to goals from Joseph Bartholomew and Ben Wyatt.
Yesterday Northern fired up when the sun came out, with Bartholomew again slotting in the goal, along with Vincent Brill, Nick Wilson and James Coughlan, to defeat Midlands 4-1.
Northern men had a break from play today, but will go up against Auckland tomorrow at 3.30pm, Central at 4pm on Wednesday, Canterbury at 2.30pm on Thursday and Friday, they play Capital at 4pm.
On Saturday, the tournament finals will be staged - with the top-finishing team playing team two in each division.
All games are at ITM Rosvall Stadium.