KEY POINTS:
A second-half hat-trick from American midfielder Pat Harris gave Auckland victory over defending men's National League champions North Harbour in yesterday's match of the day at Lloyd Elsmore Park.
The win left Auckland trailing Canterbury only on goal difference and set up what could be the decisive game of the tournament between the pair this afternoon.
Like Auckland, Canterbury have won their opening two matches - scoring 15 goals in seeing off Southern and Central while Auckland followed their first-up 2-1 win over Midlands with yesterday's win over Harbour.
North Harbour and the favoured Central side are the only women's teams with maximum points and meet today in another showdown which could go a long way to finding the finalists.
Organisers have scrapped semifinals with the top two teams after next Saturday's final round-robin matches to play off for the Challenge Shield (men) and K Cup (women) on Sunday.
Auckland will fancy their chances of winning the Shield for the first time since 2001 after a stirring fightback in yesterday's feature.
Two top-class goals catapulted North Harbour into a 2-0 lead. The first was set up by Trinidad and Tobago international Kwan Browne and expertly finished by Simon Brill. The second was set up by Brill and finished by young striker Shay Neal.
The visitors' halftime joy quickly turned to despair as Harris closed the gap three minutes into the second spell and tied it up nine minutes later. He completed the job two minutes from time when he drag-flicked home from a penalty corner.
Wellington, on the back of Blair Hilton's hat-trick (all from open play) bounced back from their first day loss to Central to beat Northland 5-2.
Canterbury, bolstered by the return of Black Stick Brad Shaw, took their goal tally to 15 with a 6-1 win over Central.
It was not as one-sided as the score might suggest as Canterbury were held scoreless for the first half hour.
The star-studded Central team had to work harder than expected to beat defending women's champions, but under-strength, Wellington 4-3.
Wellington hit the turf in a hurry scoring early field goals. Central hit back aided initially by a penalty stroke from Piki Hamahona for 1-2 at halftime.
Goals from five players paved the way for North Harbour's 5-1 win over Southern after leading 2-0 at halftime with a stunning Stacey Michelsen reverse stick opening the scoring in the 15th minute.
In the late game, Northland, with the first and last goals of the match from Tarannah Vette, scored a deserved 3-1 win over Canterbury.
