College Sport: Georgia has her mind on scholarship

Mt Albert Grammar School lacrosse player Georgia Carter wants to capture a US scholarship. Photo / Dean Purcell

Georgia Carter is that rare breed of athlete: talented, focused, and good enough to represent her country while still at school.

The 18-year-old, Year 13 student at Mt Albert Grammar has been in the women's national lacrosse team - the NZ Blax - for 12 months, and leads the MAGS girls, who are the Auckland champions and one of the top schoolgirl sides in New Zealand.

Carter's elevation to the NZ Blax was one of the prime reasons she clinched the girls' lacrosse award at the 2015 ASB YSPOTY afternoon.

She is just back from the schools nationals in Cambridge, where MAGS placed third, and they were narrowly defeated by close Auckland rivals EGGS in a one-day tournament last week. But they did edge EGGS 10-9 in a typically tight Auckland final.

Carter plays in the midfield, but scores her share of goals.

"Lacrosse is definitely growing with heaps of girls interested in it. At MAGS, we had three teams this year, which is good," says Carter.

She was in Year 9 when she first got hooked on a sport which is big in the US. There is TV coverage there, and Carter soaks up as much as she can.

"It's an interesting, unusual sport. It just seemed really energetic and fast-paced. I didn't think a lot would happen with it at first, but then I got into Auckland rep teams and the New Zealand Under-19s, so I thought 'Hey, I can play this'."

She certainly can, cracking the MAGS premier side in Year 10 and now she, like several other MAGS girls, plays club lacrosse for Westforce, based at Shadbolt Park in New Lynn.

Last season was a big one, playing in the Under-19 Lacrosse World Cup, where New Zealand did well to finish fifth, and making the senior New Zealand side. Now she is awaiting selection for an NZ Blax tour to California in October. She was on a similar tour last year.

"It's only five days and it's right at the beginning of term four, so if I do get selected I'll be able to manage things with my studies," says Carter.

She has options and plans for next year, but the major lacrosse focus will be the World Cup in England in July.

Meantime, she is hoping to gain a lacrosse scholarship to the US. Failing that, she has applied for a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Auckland. Either way, she is fully committed to her sport, and her training consists of a mix of gymwork, stickwork, and endurance.

Most of those in the New Zealand squad train in Auckland, where many are based, every second weekend. School lacrosse is on Thursday nights.

"Lacrosse is a really good, tight-knit sport, so you get to know everyone well," she says.

In June, Carter was successful with the NZ Blax in Melbourne, where they won the Footscray International Championship and also competed in the Australian women's nationals, plus tests against Hong and England.

Carter has had her last hurrah in schools lacrosse, but expect to see her go places in her chosen sport.

Results

Rugby

First XV boys

Auckland 1A final: MAGS 15 (Waimana Reidlinger-Kapa, Isaiah Papali'i tries; Niven Longopoa con, pen) Sacred Heart 13 (Melino Huihui'Uia try; Ben Engels con, 2 pen) HT: 7-3.

North Harbour 1A final: Westlake BHS 34 (Fine Inisi 3, Lotu Inisi, Casey Smith, Harry Forbes tries; Keepa Wiki 2 con) Massey 3 (Miracle Naititi pen) HT: 24-3.

Central North Island final: St Paul's Collegiate 30 (Ryan Wilkins, Ashton Finau, Della Neli, Fergus Burke tries; Burke 2 con, 2 pen) St Peter's (Cambridge) 16 (Kaea Hongara, Lachlan McWhannell tries; Rewita Biddle 2 pen) HT: 27-6 St Paul's Collegiate.

Auckland 1B Championship final: Tamaki 17 Liston 17 (title shared).

Auckland schoolgirls' 15s semifinals: Otahuhu 36 Onehunga 12, Southern Cross 27 Aorere 19; Final: Southern Cross 15 Otahuhu 12; 10s final: Mt Roskill Grammar 60 Waitakere 5.

Football

Boys

Premier league: Auckland Grammar 3 (Robert Tipelu 2, William Sargent goals) Sacred Heart 1 (Oliver Derlin), Mt Roskill Grammar 3 (Ignacio Machuca Maturana 2, Gilberto Souza Dias) MAGS 1 (Thomas Golding), Macleans 3 (Angus Stewart 3) Westlake BHS 3 (Matt Conroy 2, Drew Farnsworth), St Kentigern 3 (Dylan Morris, Oscar Spragg, Charles Spragg) St Peter's 0.

Final points: Sacred Heart 37, St Kentigern 33, Mt Roskill Grammar 26, Auckland Grammar 25, Westlake BHS 15, MAGS 11, St Peter's 5, Macleans 4

Sacred Heart win their third consecutive Auckland title, and fourth in five seasons.

Senior A1: Kelston BHS 1 King's 1, Rosmini 2 Onehunga 2, Glendowie 5 Rutherford 2, Rangitoto 2 Pakuranga 1.

Kelston BHS are Senior A1 champions.

Girls

Greater Auckland APC Knockout Cup:

Premier division one finals: 1-2: MAGS 5 St Kentigern 0; 3-4: Rangitoto 1 St Cuthbert's 0; 5-6: Diocesan 3 Green Bay 0; 7-8: Takapuna Grammar 1 Baradene 0.

Hockey

SuperCity semifinals

Premier boys (tier one): Auckland Grammar 6 Rosmini 2; Kristin 3 Westlake BHS 2; St Kentigern 3 Kingsway 0; King's 3 MAGS 2.

Premier girls (tier one): St Cuthbert's 3 St Kentigern 1; Diocesan 6 Westlake GHS 1; Rangitoto default to Orewa; King's 3 Kristin 2.

Basketball

Premier girls' semifinals: MAGS 72 Westlake GHS 62, AGGS 67 Rangitoto 47.

Premier boys' semifinals: Rangitoto 77 Auckland Grammar 72, Rosmini 81 Westlake BHS 78.

Netball

Auckland premier one: MAGS 55 McAuley 19, One Tree Hill 35 Baradene 32, EGGS 47 Avondale 10, Aorere 48 St Mary's 26, St Kentigern 56 Massey 25, Westlake GHS 40 Howick 23

Final points: St Kentigern 44, MAGS 41, EGGS 35, Westlake GHS 34, One Tree Hill 24, Howick 22, Aorere 21, Baradene 21, McAuley 14, Massey 8, St Mary's 5, Avondale 1.

Counties Manukau premier finals: 1-2: Manurewa 27 Pukekohe Gold 25; 3-4: Rosehill Gold 27 James Cook Puutake 21; 5-6: Strathallan Navy 31 Sir Edmund Hillary 19; 7-8: Papatoetoe 33 Alfriston 14.

Table tennis

Auckland SS A premier grade Knockout Championship finals:

1 v 2: Auckland Grammar A 5 Macleans 2; 3 v 4: Auckland Grammar B 7 St Kentigern 0; 5 v 6: Botany Downs 5 Macleans B 2; 7 v 8: Pakuranga 6 Auckland Grammar C 1.

Cycling

Teams time trial race five:

Senior boys: Grammar 1, St Kentigern 2, King's 3.

Senior girls: EGGS 1, St Kentigern 2, Baradene 3.

Junior girls: EGGS 1, Takapuna Grammar 2, St Kentigern 3.

Junior boys: Takapuna Grammar 1, St Kentigern 2, Auckland Grammar 3.

Coming up

Today

Netball

Auckland premier finals at Auckland Netball Centre:

Premier one: 1-2: St Kentigern v MAGS, 7pm

(6pm): 3-4: EGGS v Westlake GHS; 5-6: Howick v One Tree Hill; 7-8: Baradene v Aorere; 9-10: McAuley v Massey; 11-12: St Mary's v Avondale

Premier two: 1-2: MAGS v St Cuthbert's, 6pm

Hockey

SuperCity premier boys' finals (tier one):

1-2: Auckland Grammar v Kristin, 7pm; 3-4: Rosmini v Westlake BHS at Harbour, 5.10pm; 5-6: St Kentigern v King's at LEP, 5.10pm; 7-8: Kingsway v MAGS at Harbour, 6.20pm.

Thursday

Hockey

SuperCity premier girls' finals (tier one):

1-2: St Cuthbert's v Diocesan at Auckland Grammar, 6.10pm; 3-4: St Kentigern v Westlake GHS at LEP, 5.10pm; 5-6: Orewa v King's at Harbour, 6.20pm; 7-8: Rangitoto v Kristin at Harbour, 5.10pm.

Basketball

Premier girls' final, North Shore Events Centre.

(tipoff TBC): AGGS v MAGS

Premier boys' final, NSEC (tipoff TBC): Rangitoto v Rosmini.

Saturday

Rugby

First XV/Top 4 qualifiers

Blues final (2.40pm, TV): MAGS v Westlake BHS.

Blues co-ed final: Aorere v Massey or Kerikeri.

Blues girls' final: Kaipara v Southern Cross.

Chiefs final: Rotorua BHS v Hamilton BHS.

Chiefs co-ed final: Manurewa v Stratford or St Peter's (Cambridge).

Sunday

Cycling

Teams time trial race six: Pukekohe race track, 7.30am.

August 29-September 4

Winter tournament week.