HOCKEY - Potent goal-grabbers aiming to land title in dream season

According to the history annals a long forgotten British prime minister called Benjamin Disraeli reckoned there were three things to be eternally wary of: Lies, damn lies ... and statistics.
It is patently obvious Disraeli never meet Charlotte Harrison or Anna Thorpe, but if he had the chance he might care to rephrase his infamous uttering. Because the statistics on those two Northland hockey players tell an impressive truth.
They are the most potent goal-scorers playing in the National Hockey League this season.
Thorpe (7) and Harrison (5) are two of the top three goal-scorers in the competition, a feat they underlined with an exclamation mark in the latest weekend of the NHL.
Black Sticks star Niniwa Roberts has scored more goals, but only courtesy of her duties as the penalty corner hitter for Wellington.
Thorpe nailed two during a hard earned 3-all draw with Auckland on Saturday, while Harrison scored one when Northland lost to 3-1 Wellington yesterday.
But their goal-scoring feats this year hardly rate a mention, at least from co-captain Laura Douglas, who is trying hard to bust her way back into the Black Sticks. Douglas likes her goal-scoring team mates but has her eyes set on a much bigger prize for the entire province this year.
"Those two girls have been scoring goals all season, but we just couldn't quite get the goals in today (against Wellington)," Douglas said.
"We are set for the semis but we wanted to win against Wellington to nail the top spot. But I think we have to give credit to Wellington, they are a good team, probably the second best team in the country," she said.
While Northland's top-four status is set in stone, the draw against Auckland securing them a semifinal berth, they now need to beat Central at Albany on Thursday to land a favourable draw. Avoiding a rematch with Welington until the final is the obvious preference.
The goal-scoring duo know the real business is about to start as they seek to polish the season off with a surprise championship title next weekend.
"There is still a chance to get top spot, but we need to beat Central now (on Thursday) then see who wins other games, but we could have grabbed top spot today," Douglas said.
It has been a dream season so far for the Northland women, a performance that will undoubtedly cast them as the darlings of the province no matter what happens in the play-offs.
But for the team there is one more statistic they would like to change. No Northland women's team has ever won the national premier title.
Northland conceded the early initiative yesterday, with former Northlander Suzy Pearce nailing an early chance for Wellington The Northlanders were guilty of missing several strong chances in the first 15 minutes.
But a piece of Harrison magic levelled the scores just before the break, a delicate reverse stick flick over the 'keeper underlining her hockey pedigree. The Wellington pressure was relentless though, with Roberts, Muirhead and Nicola Brydon the standouts.
Northland were unable to produce variation from penalty corners and struggled with a well-organised Wellington defence.
The men might have two Challenge Shield successes to boast about in their history books, but are playing second fiddle to their female counterparts this year. They have yet to win a game this season, losing 6-2 despite battling admirably on Saturday and capitulating 9-0 to Wellington yesterday.