Hockey: Auckland falter, losing both on first weekend

The opening two rounds of the national women's hockey league brought joy for defending champions Central and their likely gold medal challengers Canterbury but despair for Auckland.

Central overcame a sometimes shaky effort to beat Northland 5-1 on Saturday and then grabbed a 3-1 win over Auckland at Lloyd Elsmore Park yesterday.

They share the top spot with Canterbury, who saw off Midlands and North Harbour, scoring four goals in both games to match Central's 8-2 for and against record.

Wellington, beaten finalists on the same turf last year, came from a goal down to beat Auckland 3-2 first up but needed to fight back to salvage a point in a 3-3 draw with Northland yesterday.

Canterbury were impressive, with their host of internationals showing out, as they scored two good victories. Stacey Carr scored twice for the southerners in their 4-0 win over Midlands.

Despite stepping up from a mediocre first-up effort against Southern, North Harbour were still no match for Canterbury yesterday. Behind within two minutes when Pip Lloyd pounced on a back pass, they were further in the doldrums inside 10 minutes when Lloyd grabbed her second. Harbour fell 0-3 in the 29th minute as Meredith Orr struck.

Holly Riini got one back from a goalmouth scramble three minutes later, but they blew the chance to get to within a goal of the visitors in the last minute of the spell when captain Paula Enoka pushed a penalty stroke attempt wide.

Riini got the home side to 2-3 in the 45th minute. Inspired, Harbour dominated but were, against the run of play, punished late in the game when Amanda Christie scored.

With a little luck, Northland could have been in it for a lot longer against Central in the opening match of this year's Lion Foundation NHL.

Moira Senior gave Central the 10th-minute lead but they needed another 21 minutes before Alisa Ravji increased that. In between times, Northland had chances but could not convert. They closed the gap early in the second spell when Kelsey Dunn touched home, but they could not build on that as Central cruised home.

Central again outscored their opponents in the second half yesterday as they beat Auckland 3-1 after being locked 1-1 at the break.

Auckland captain Sian Bremner set up the first goal when she linked with Lizzie Ryan who found Keita Miru to push home.

A penalty corner strike from Emily Naylor levelled it before halftime. Second-half goals, again from penalty corners, for Monique Anderson and Senior ensured Central of the points.

A fourth-minute penalty corner strike from New Zealand captain Suzie Muirhead gave Wellington a flying start against Northland. Despite dominating the first spell seven penalty corners to two and 14 penetrations into the Northland circle, Wellington could not score a second.

A fired-up Northland side dominated the early exchanges in the second half.

Three minutes after the break the impressive 16-year-old Charlotte Harrison grabbed a well-deserved equaliser. Three minutes later Laura Douglas beat New Zealand goalkeeper Beth Jurgeleit with a strike from a penalty corner.

Four minutes later centre-forward Harrison had her second, and Northland had a 3-1 lead.

Led by Muirhead, Wellington rallied. She weaved along the baseline to score in the 47th minute, and 15 minutes from time Lisa Bishop pounced on a rebound to grab the equaliser, despite solid defensive games from Rhonda Rowsell and Toni Mason.

All teams will be in Wellington this weekend for another double-header, with the feature women's games between Canterbury and Auckland and Central and North Harbour on Saturday and Wellington and North Harbour on Sunday.