It was so close but so far for the Wanganui Under 15 hockey girls after they were beaten 2-1 by Canterbury B in the national championship final in Nelson on Saturday afternoon.
The Cantabrians had previously been the only side to beat Wanganui during the week of games, 5-1, andcoach Jan Dixon had vowed if they could cut down on the favourite's penalty corners, they had a real chance of winning the title.
Manawatu import Isabella Wassilieff scored her sixth goal of the tournament in the 14th minute, but Canterbury hit back almost immediately with a field goal by Molly Leckie.
Payton Anderson then scored another field goal in the 20th minute and Wanganui could not peg them back.
It was a similar story at the Under 15 boys tournament in Napier, where Wanganui lost their playoff for third with Auckland B 2-1.
Captain Kian Belk scored his sixth goal of the tournament to give Wanganui the lead after 42 minutes, but Auckland equalised through James Stables eight minutes later, and then his captain Sam Lindberg scored at the death of the match to give his side the win.
It was more heartbreak for coach Andrew Spence, who for the last several years has taken teams who have done very well at tournament, but just come up short at the final hurdles.
"I think this year, we acknowledged we had a fairly inexperienced team," he said.
