Wanganui U18 girls beat odds to finish fourth

A makeshift Wanganui girls team stepped up to the plate to finish fourth in the New Zealand Age Group Under 18 hockey tournament in Palmerston last week.

In a tough schedule the girls played six games in six days in a competition that involved 16 associations from throughout the country and adding to the pressure was the Wanganui girls only had two substitutes to draw on during the week.

Manager Kellie Watkin said they had drawn a tough pool that also included Tauranga, Bay Of Plenty and Auckland. Early in the week Wanganui went down 2-0 to Tauranga, but beat Bay Of Plenty and Auckland to go through to the top eight.

"We played North Harbour and with the score tied at 1-all at the final whistle the match went into stroke play and we ended up winning 7-6 to go into the semifinals," Watkin said.

"Unfortunately, we lost again to Tauranga 2-1 and then to Wairarapa by the same margin in the play-off for third and fourth.

"The whole team stepped up as we were without four of our most experienced players. Three were on Central hockey duty and one was on a school trip overseas.

"This meant we had to recruit younger players to fill those places and they got stronger each game. With only two subs the girls had a huge workload to play six games in six days," Watkin said.

Wanganui's top goal scorer was Kara Jurgens followed by Jessica Brougham and Lucy Tui.

"Beth Norman and Emma Rainey chipped in with successful strokes against North Harbour while Kaydee Gedye and Tania Mackay had a real solid week in defence," Watkin said. "Our MVP for the tournament was Pavinee Watson, our goalkeeper, who had an outstanding game in the semi against Tauranga."