Wairarapa improved their seeding by seven spots at the Collier trophy national primary and intermediate schoolgirls hockey tournament played in Timaru last week.
Hopes were high that Wairarapa would place better than their 13th out of the 24 competing teams in 2009, but to finish sixth exceeded all expectations.
"We were optimistic
of making it through to the last eight, but anything more than that was always going to be a bonus," co-coach Phil Hall said.
Wairarapa went through their pool games without defeat and, in fact, had not even conceded a goal leading into their quarter-final with Canterbury.
Canterbury, who eventually made it to the final where they were beaten 1-0 by Auckland, beat Wairarapa by 2-0, but Hall and his coaching partner, Chris Hicks, were pleased with the resolve they showed in a game in which Canterbury scored one goal in each half.
"We didn't deserve to win but there wasn't a lot in it. We certainly made them work for what they got," Hall said.
That defeat left Wairarapa playing off for positions five to eight and their first-up encounter against Wellington was a cracker. Wairarapa led 2-0 at half-time but Wellington came roaring back to score two goals in the second half, thereby sending the game into a penalty shoot-out. And there it was Wairarapa who handled the pressure best, converting five of their strokes into goals against Wellington's three.
Victory there meant Wairarapa's final match against Northland was for fifth and sixth positions and Northland took the honours 3-2.
Midfielder Letia Jane was deservedly named most valuable player of the tournament for Wairarapa, but Hall was loathe to single out individuals for special mention because the onus had always been on teamwork .
"We kept stressing that to do well everybody had to pull their weight and there wasn't a player who didn't come up trumps in that respect," he said.
