Wairarapa College and St Matthew's Collegiate have made a habit of dominating the Wellington secondary schoolgirls premier division hockey competition and results to date suggest this season will be no exception.
Five series of matches were played in the preliminary round leading into the main championship and Wairarapa Collegeand St Matthew's Collegiate were unbeaten going into their clash last week, won by Wairarapa 1-0.
In earlier games, Wairarapa College beat Paraparaumu 3-1, Chilton St James 7-0, Wellington Girls 8-0 and Wellington East 4-1, while St Matthew's had accounted for Samuel Marsden 2-0, Sacred Heart 3-2, Wellington East 3-2 and Paraparaumu 3-1.
Rathkeale College and Wairarapa College were placed second and third respectively in the preliminary round of the boys' premier division.
Rathkeale bounced back from a first-up 7-1 loss to Wellington College to beat Scots 6-1, Heretaunga 6-2 and Wairarapa College 3-1 before again losing to Wellington College 6-1. Wairarapa College beat St Pats (Silverstream) 4-1, Hutt Valley High 12-0, Hutt International Boys School 5-1 and then lost 3-1 to Rathkeale before defeating HIBS a second time 4-1.
Meanwhile, no fewer than nine Wairarapa players have been included in the Capital under-18 women's squad for 2013: Annemieke van Vliet, Brigette Mossman, Emma Smith, Georgie Warren, Katie-Anne Saywell, Kelsey Linton, Megan Hull, Michael O'Connor and Monika Lombard.
There is also strong Wairarapa representation in the Capital under-18 boys' squad: Joseph Robertson, Mikey Spicer, Mitchell Blackwood, Phil Arkell, Tane Workman and Alex Sumenko-Bucknell.
The Capital-under 21 squads also have a number of past or present Wairarapa players, including Jenna Anderson, Felicity Reidy, Katherine van Woerkom, Megan Hull, Morgan Percy, Benedict van Woerkom, Joseph Robertson, Nick Finlayson and Trent Lett.
