College hockey side delivers on promise

A GOAL just four seconds from fulltime gave Wairarapa College a 3-2 win over Whangarei Boys in the grand final of the India Shield secondary schoolboys hockey tournament in Auckland last week.
And it meant that coach Shane Tyacke delivered on a promise that Wairarapa College would win the Shield for the first time in its 50-year history, and with it promotion to the top secondary schoolboys tourney in the country, the Rankin Shield, in 2007.
"I had told everybody-players, parents and the college-that we would bring the trophy back so you can imagine the feeling when that last goal was scored,"Tyacke said. "It went in and the final whistle went, that's how close to fulltime it was."
It was Whangarei Boys who scored the first goal in the tournament decider with Wairarapa College drawing level just before halftime when Rowan Yeo netted.
Seven minutes into the second half Whangarei Boys went ahead again at 2-1 but Wairarapa College levelled at 2-2 through Ryan Pauling scoring from a penalty corner.
And it stayed that away until those last few seconds when Wairarapa College was awarded another penalty corner and Yeo came up with the goal which counted most.
Close as the grand final was Wairarapa College would have been unlucky not to emerge as tournament winners as they had gone through their previous five games undefeated.
They came top of their pool after wins over Wanganui Collegiate (3-2), Rathkeale College (7-0) and St Kentigerns (1-0).Then came a 3-0 quarter-final success over Hamilton Boys and a 3-0 semi-final win over Hauraki Plains.
Their 20 goals for and only four against made Wairarapa College clearly the best side on goal differential and Rowan Yeo's personal tally of 16 goals made him easily the highest individual scorer at the event.
Not surprisingly Yeo was named his side's most valuable player but while Tyacke was fulsome of his praise for his contribution to what was an assertive Wairarapa College attack he was also quick to praise the defence, spearheaded by goalkeeper Luke Rosemergy. Noteworthy too was the naming of Jay Hodgkiss as the player of the final.
"The pleasing feature for us was that we were strong all round, we didn't have any weaknesses we had to cover," Tyacke said. "We scored goals at one end and we defended well at the other."
The full Wairarapa College squad was: Luke Rosemergy, Hamish Linton, Isaac Berry, Dane Lett, Jay Hodgkiss, Tobyn Yeo, Ryan Pauling, Rowan Yeo, Thomas Annear, Shane Hodgkiss, Jordan Sinclair, Tonnie ten Hove, Bryden Henson, Daniel van Woerkom, Scott Ryan, Nathan Shannahan.Coach was Shane Tyacke and the manager was Francis Kirkham.
Wairarapa College also made a big impact in the umpiring ranks with the grand final being controlled by local Peter Sigvertsen and Jacob Carlson, now from Nelson but formerly from Wairarapa.
Meanwhile, the Wairarapa College girls hockey team also hit the high spots last week, placing sixth in the highest-ranked secondary schoolgirls tourney in the country, the Federation Cup
Wairarapa College went into the event as defending champions but lost their chance to repeat that effort when they lost 2-1 to Kamo High in the quarter-finals. Wairarapa College dominated possession and territory in that game but were not helped by the fact they had two goals disallowed.
That loss took Wairarapa College into a playoff for positions fifth to ninth and they produced one of their best efforts of the tourney in walloping Tauranga Girls 3-0 before losing the playoff for fifth and sixth 1-0 to the highly-rated Westlake College side.
Coach Lance Hare was disappointed his team's chances of making the semis were dashed by some "interesting" calls but he was still delighted with the way his side performed overall.
Wellington senior rep Wendy Hull, and a standby for that team in Sophie Wickens had outstanding tournaments as did Shakira Baker but pleasing Hare the most was the development of his side's more junior players.
"The younger players came on in leaps and bounds and that bodes well for the future," he said.