Battle of the Colleges set to go

It will be the Battle of the Colleges on two sporting fronts in Wairarapa tomorrow evening.
St Matthew's Collegiate and Wairarapa College will go head to head in a Wellington secondary schoolgirls hockey competition clash at Clareville, starting at 5.30pm, and just 30 minutes later they will clash in a Wairarapa premier one netball match at the Genesis Recreation Centre in Masterton.
Hockey encounters between the two schools have a history of being closely contested and this one should be no different.
St Matthew's will be in a confident frame of mind after having thrashed Chilton St James by a whopping 11-0 last Friday while Wairarapa College will be wanting to make amends for their narrow 2-1 defeat by Samuel Marsden.
Both teams had won their opening round matches a week earlier, St Matthew's beating St Mary's 3-1 and Wairarapa College beating Wellington Girls 5-2.
Members of the Dalefield premier women's team are liberally sprinkled through the two sides with Amanda Pottinger, Jade Foreman, Helen France and Libby Monaghan expected to lead the St Matthew's charge and likewise Libby Noema, Georgia Burton, Chloe Stevens and Megan Hull for Wairarapa College.
Adding to the incentive for victory tomorrow night is the fact the Dunce Cup will also be at stake, this being a trophy donated in memory of the late Colin Dunce, who gave such wonderful service to Wairarapa hockey, particularly in the umpiring ranks.
Two series of matches have been played to date in the Wairarapa premier one netball competition and St Matthew's Collegiate and Wairarapa College go into tomorrow night's fixture with a one-win, one-loss record.
St Matthew's came with a late rush to beat Fagan Motors Hot Shots 34-31 first up and then were beaten 37-24 by the powerful Celtic combination. Wairarapa College lost their opening game 38-34 to Kuranui College before also beating Fagan Motors Hot Shots by 40-37.
The attacking skills of Leanna Taiapa are sure to be to the fore for St Matthew's and they also have good strength on defence where Paige Drummond and Jayne Kersten are an assertive-minded duo.
Wairarapa College are well catered for at both ends of the court too with Pohiri Gemmell a star of their attack and Courtney Hamilton a commanding figure on defence.
The Battles of the College theme is not, however, only attributable to the female gender tomorrow night. Matches also continue in the Wellington secondary schoolboys hockey competition and squaring off there at Clareville at 6.45pm will be the Rathkeale College and Wairarapa College first XIs
Of the two, Wairarapa College have slightly the better record to date with a 2-2 draw against St Pat's Town being followed by a 3-0 win over Paraparaumu Boys. Rathkeale lost against Hutt Valley High School 1-0 before having a scoreless draw with Hutt International Boys School.