Hockey: Dig deeper, Northland told

Samantha Polovnikoff (right) is just one member of the Northland women's under-18 team who are being asked to show more guts and determination at the national tournament, as the team require three wins in a row to claim fifth spot.Photo/John Stone

More Northland guts and determination is being called for by under-18 women's coach Meredith McInnes at the midway stage of the national tournament in Napier.

With three games under their belts already, Northland are yet to score a win and now have their target set on claiming fifth - which requires wins from their remaining three games.

Yesterday the team enjoyed a rest day, with McInnes saying they had shown glimpses of the form they need - but a full 70-minute performance was needed.

"I'm not sure we've put a full performance together yet, which is what we are looking for in the next three games.

"We've played well for a half, but it hasn't been enough," McInnes said from Napier, with the weather threatening to cast up difficult conditions. "We probably played our best game against Auckland [which they lost 3-0]. "We showed typical Northland guts and determination but, unfortunately, we came out on the wrong side."

So far, McInnes felt captain Steph Donnelly, Georgia Miller, Bridget Johnson and Hayley Maunder had stepped up for the Northland team.

However, with Northland club hockey coming to the business end of the season, McInnes jokingly hoped the youngsters' form would not be around when they played her Hikurangi club team.

So far, the team's results have been a 2-1 loss to Central, a 3-0 loss to Auckland, and a 2-0 loss to North Harbour.

The women's only goal scorer in the competition so far is Ella-Rose Kini.

Meanwhile, the Northland men's under-18 team have had a similar story for their tournament.

They too have had no wins from their three games - losing 8-0 to Midlands, 5-1 to Auckland, and 5-2 to Central.

Scoring goals for the men's team so far have been Chantz Wilson-Harding, Hamish McKechnie and Harry Lamb.

Today the women's team play Capital at 11am, before playing Southern tomorrow at 9.30am. Depending on those results, and the other teams', Northland will again play on Saturday to determine their final placing.

The men face Southern at 11.30am today and take on North Harbour at 9am tomorrow to round out their pool play.