HOCKEY - Early lead eroded to a tie

Fresh back from the Champions Challenge tournament in Azerbaijan during the week, Charlotte Harrison showed few signs of jet lag as she scored two stylish goals to earn her side a good halftime lead in their match against Hikurangi on Saturday.
Unfortunately for Harrison's Whangarei Girls' High School side side a determined Hikurangi clawed themselves back into the game to earn a 3-3 draw in the premier grade women's match at the Rosvall ITM Hockey Stadium.
High School played their usual enterprising style of hockey, using some slick passing to take advantage of open spaces in the Hikurangi half.
Harrison was on the board in the third minute with a vicious backhand strike into the top of the net, leaving Hikurangi keeper Nicki Matthews no chance from eight metres out.
The goal spurred Hikurangi into action and they began competing better in the halves to find some quality ball going forward.
Michelle Scott-Davidson put them back on level terms with an excellent strike from a penalty corner in the 15th minute.
Hikurangi continued to press forward but were undone at the back by some defensive sloppiness that allowed Rebecca Batten to dribble through three or four players to regain the lead at 2-1.
A good High School move, starting deep in their territory, saw Harrison add her second, with another, perhaps even better, backhand strike from a similar position with ten minutes of the half to go.
Hikurangi started the second spell with exactly what they were hoping for at halftime - an early goal.
Dene Cheeseman narrowed the gap to 2-3 just a minute into the spell by being the first to react to a ball the High School defence failed to clear.
Michelle King scored the equaliser with a clever shot on the turn after a penalty corner midway through the spell and should have put them ahead a minute later on the break, with just the keeper to beat.
The game went from end to end with High School's classy forwards thwarted by a hard-working Hikurangi defence with Rika Currie and Paula Shaw keeping their heads when they were outnumbered, while Matthews cleaned up anything they missed.
Leah Dunn was the pick of the High School defenders.
In other premier women's matches Kamo High School had their first win of the season with a 2-1 win over United Kawakawa.
The students struck early through Leila Nichols but a goal from a fast break by Melissa Simpson levelled the scores at the break.
Hannah Nink scored the winner with a well-taken penalty corner and their defence withstood Kawakawa pressure to claim their first competition points.
In the final fixture of the round, league leaders Maungakaramea failed to increase their lead over second-placed Girls' High, after being held to a 2-2 draw by Old Girls.
The tight match saw Old Girls' international Laura Douglas score yet another double for her team, while Maungakaramea's Northland striker Anna Thorpe replied in kind.
Maungakaramea perhaps earned more scoring chances during the tight match but Old Girls' centreback Claire Jenkins and keeper Moira Chamberlain were in top form in defence.
Mangapai displaced Springfield in the see-saw battle for the lead of the men's premier competition with a strong 4-1 win over Bream Bay United on Saturday.
Mangapai scored three goals in the first ten minutes of the match to Mark Thorne, Barry Thorne and Steve Shepherd before Bream Bay found their feet in the match.
They scored just before halftime through Michael Scott but although they attacked more in the second half, Mangapai's Chad Callaghan was the only scorer in the second spell.
Maungakaramea knocked over the previous leaders with a 3-1 win in an excellent match on Friday night, with Ryan Cocking and Chris Page scoring in the first spell.
Carlo Aprea made it 3-0 by being the first player to swoop onto a partially cleared penalty corner before Springfield scored a late consolation goal through Mark McLeod.