Out of sorts women look back on tournament of lost chances

There was disappointment for Northland women's hockey players who only managed a seventh place in the National Hockey League tournament over the weekend.
After drawing with Southern 1-1 on Saturday in "their worst game of the tournament", coach Grant McLeod said the women had a lot to prove when they faced Southern again in the play-off for seventh and eighth yesterday.
"We played poorly on Saturday - we took them too lightly. The players didn't perform and it was a poor team effort," McLeod said.
Northland dominated possession but poor passing and inaccurate shots at goal contained the score to 1-1.  Rebekah Williams put the only shot away for the northerners. 
"We did everything but hit the ball into goal - it kept going wide," he said.
When Northland's first opportunity to score in the first few minutes of yesterday's rematch hit the crossbar, the coach said he thought "here we go again".
Following 15 minutes of dominating possession, Northland had another crack and  Anna Weir found the back of the goal. 
 "They were lucky if we were in their circle 10 times - they didn't have many shots.
"Rachael Lecky was in goal and she only made two or three saves all day."
Northland hit their target - Jade McLeod scored twice as did Laura Douglas and Alex Pivac scored one to extend the score to 6-0, placing Northland seventh overall after the week-long tournament.
It was a disappointing campaign for the women who have finished in the top four for the past few years.
"All week we have been a goal off the pace - we didn't score enough goals," McLeod said. "We scored two against North Harbour, Wellington and Auckland and six today but in the other games we only scored one and that is not enough in this competition."
Ineffective penalty corners were also an area of concern as was the disjointed build-up, with the coach and several players away at the Junior World Cup in Boston during the tournament preparation.
However, the team viewed the tournament as a learning curve and would analyse game footage to see what can be managed better for next year.
Meanwhile, Central became the 2009 NHL champions after narrowly pipping Midlands 4-3. Last year's title holders North Harbour claimed third when they won their match with Auckland, 2-1. Wellington took fifth place over Canterbury, defeating them 3-2.