College hockey sides scoop pool

It was a case of double celebration for Wairarapa College when the grand finals of the Wellington secondary schools premier division hockey competitions were played in Wellington last Friday night.
Wairarapa College beat Wellington East 4-0 to take out the girls title, and then their boys repeated the dose by defeating Wellington College 3-2 in their decider.
For the girls their victory meant they went through their premier division programme undefeated, and while Wellington East were optimistic of pushing them hard a strong second half effort saw Wairarapa College secure a comfortable win.
Coach Lance Hare was unperturbed when Wairarapa College went into the halftime break with a slender 1-0 advantage.
"We had dominated in terms of possession and territory and it was just a matter of maintaining the pressure and the goals would surely come," he said. And come they did, three of them in all and without reply.
Hare labelled the Wairarapa College performance as their best of the competition with the team focusing on playing a controlled, structured brand of hockey and out-gunning their opposition in all areas of play.
Centre forward Carla Burt was the standout player for Wairarapa College and was amongst the scorers, as were two other impressive individuals in Wendy Hull and Sophie Wickens.
That trio are part of six players who won't be available for Wairarapa College next season but Hare is excited by the development of many of the more junior players in his squad and is confident they will again be a force to be reckoned with in 2007.
For the Wairarapa College boys team their 3-2 win over Wellington College didn't come without a fight, but that was expected with two previous meetings between the two sides this season having produced a 3-2 win to Wairarapa College and then a 2-1 success to Wellington College.
The Shane Tyacke-coached Wairarapa College side came from 1-0 down early in the final to lead 3-1, but then had to withstand a late onslaught from Wellington College which saw them grab a second goal just nine minutes from the game's end.
And, to make matters more tense for Wairarapa College, they conceded a penalty corner right on fulltime but, happily for them, the shot went wide.
Wairarapa College manager Francis Kirkham described the match as a very even contest which could have gone either way.
"We always thought it would be a close go and it was," he said. "We dominated in parts and so did they, it was exciting all the way through."
Goal scorers for Wairarapa College were three of their leading players Ryan Pauling, Shane Hodgkiss and Rowan Yeo.
Their latest success completed a memorable season for the Wairarapa College boys team which earlier had won their India Shield inter-school tournament and with it promotion to the top secondary schoolboys tourney in the country, the Rankin Shield, next season.
This means Wairarapa College will be represented in both the number one secondary schools hockey tourneys next year as their girls team are regulars in the Federation Cup, having won it just two years ago and finishing sixth this season.