Auckland's bid for a successful double defence of the national hockey titles remains alive going into tomorrow's semifinals.
In the men's Challenge Shield, Auckland play Capital and Southern face Midlands; in the women's K Cup, Auckland play Midlands and Canterbury meet hosts Northland.
While the men were runaway top qualifiersfor the semifinals in Whangarei, Auckland's women finished third behind Canterbury and Midlands.
North Harbour women were left ruing a lost chance last night.
They led Canterbury 2-0 with 13 minutes to go. A four-goal win would have enabled them to bump hosts Northland out of the top four. Instead Canterbury came home with a rush, scored three goals to draw the match 3-3, then won the shootout.
That left both North Harbour teams out of the semifinals.
A 7-1 thumping of Capital left 2013 women's champions Midlands in good heart going into the weekend. After losing two of their first three matches, Midlands have struck form, with 24 goals in their last four games.
"Just being a bit more clinical is a big step forward," Black Sticks international and Midlands skipper Sam Charlton said yesterday. "If we can take that into our semifinals we can put up a pretty good fight."
