A record five players from the Far North featured in the 10-strong Northland team which represented the province in the girls' division of the annual Weir Rose Bowl Tournament in Cambridge during the school holidays.
The Far North Girls showed they could foot it with the best under-12 football players in the country at the annual tournament. The side's results were, beat Northern Impact (North Harbour combined team) 3-1, lost to Harbour Flames (the side which ended up winning the final 9-1) 5-1, beat Auckland Pearls 3-1, beat Auckland Diamonds 2-1, lost to Western Bay (BOP) 2-0, and beat Waitakere 4-0 in their final game for the 5th/ 6th playoff title.
The local players to stand out included Brydie Harrison (Kaitaia) who topped off an amazing season of football by being named captain and going on to lead the team to an impressive 5th place, the highest placing by a Northland team - boys or girls - at this prestigious tournament; along with a great rookie display in goal from Keelay McDonald (Kaitaia) who showed fearlessness, stopped many solid shots on target, and also saved a penalty in the dying minutes of the final game to give her side a clean sheet.
Also notable were Dylan Kingi (Kerikeri) with a solid tournament at centre-back, holding the team together and tracking down any attacks which came her way; Kelly Roberts (Kerikeri) who came off the bench to prove tireless in the midfield in continuously hustling and winning the ball back; and Jayde Florian (Kaitaia) who showed her natural instinct for goal by ending up Northland's top scorer with five goals (the best coming via a rocket into the top right corner of the net which would have most keepers left picking the ball out of the net).
The other Whangarei players in the side were Kaela Healey, Ella Holwell, Savannah Badman, Jayde Reynolds and Abby Wright. The most pleasing thing post-tournament for coaching staff was that many of the girls are still young enough to do it all again next year, which builds a great foundation for the 2015 Weir Rosebowl team.
