Good start for Under-18s at nationals

The Northland Under-18 hockey team made a dominant start to the National Under-18 Premier Girls Tournament at Tauranga.
Melissa Simpson showed plenty of style, delivering two goals in Northland's first round of the week-long tournament where they romped home to win 4-0 over Manawatu on Monday. Samantha Tugaga and Garby Smith added the other two goals,  despite some persistent defence at times from the opposition.
Northland backed up their strong start by thrashing Marlborough 10-0 on Tuesday. Again Simpson was outstanding, claiming a hat-trick, while teammates Brooke Neal and Ashleigh Malcolm grabbed braces.
Smith, Anna Tucker and Courtney Phillips added the icing  to the cake.

 Northland had their first real test of the tournament yesterday  when they went up against a tough North Harbour contingent ahead of the cross-over matches which begin today.

It was a hard-fought game with neither team gaining obvious advantage, the lead changing from team to team up until the last 10 minutes, when  North Harbour finally gained dominance to win 5-3.
The Northland Under-18 Men also kicked off their campaign this week at the National Under-18 Championship Tournament in Auckland.
They faced North Harbour B first up, who proved too strong, winning 3-1.
On Tuesday, Northland reversed their luck against Hawkes Bay, and were victorious 3-1, before playing a second match against Southland,  which they won 6-0.
Northland had Canterbury and Mid Canterbury left to play before beginning cross-over matches tomorrow.