A gritty Wairarapa team won the social women's grade at the national Marist soccer tournament held in Napier late last month. They had just 11 players, five of them under 17yrs, and started strongly by beating Palmerston North Reserves 2-1 and Palmerston North Social 2-0 and drawing with Hastings 0-0. The nextday they beat Auckland 2-1 and Wellington 5-1 to finish section play on 13 points, three ahead of Palmerston North Reserves These two teams then met in the final and a after a closely-contested encounter neither side managed to score in ordinary time. The penalty shootout which followed saw the attacker start at halfway on the centre spot and have 20secs to score against a defender or goalkeeper. All of Wairarapa's attackers scored while their goalkeeper Mec Lloyd pulled off two saves to give them a 5-3 victory.. The combination of youthful enthusiasm and experience seemed to work for the Wairarapa team throughout the tourney. The outside fullbacks Jane Knox and Caroline Orr were a constant thorn in the side of their opposition and there was strong defensive work from team organiser Jo Te Tau, Trish Morrison, Leone Presow and Mec Lloyd. Midfielders Wendy Stevenson, Simone Small and Sonya Rutene set up most of Wairarapa's attacks with Angela Pope and Kay Woodford always dangerous on attack. Presow, Stevenson, Rutene, Pope and Small were Wairarapa's five nominated players for the shoot out.
