Wairarapa College 1st XI girls hockey team's fifth-place finish in this year's Federation Cup tournament has delighted the coaching staff.
The Federation Cup is the leading national secondary school hockey tournament in New Zealand, taking in the top 16 teams. The locals won the tournament back in 2005 but this result
is the best since that year.
Team manager Debbie Watson was thrilled by the team's success.
"They played really really well as a team," Watson said. "The whole event was an awesome experience."
Wairarapa College was drawn in a tough pool, which included last year's tournament winners Auckland Diocesan.
"We only lost to Auckland 1-0 and that narrow loss guaranteed us a top-eight spot," Watson said. "It also set the bar for our own levels of performance."
Team coach Willie Schaefer was "surprised" by the team's result. "I knew we had the potential to do well," he said, "but we hadn't exactly played our best hockey in the lead-up.
"To be ranked number five in the country is really excellent," he said. "Our goal going into the tournament was to make the top eight, so we did that and more. I know this sounds like the old cliche but this was a whole team effort. Nobody had a poor tournament."
Katherine van Woerkom was voted most valuable player by her peers. Others who stood out were Megan Hill, Lianna Johnson, Libby Noema and Chloe Stevens.
Results.-
Pool play: Epsom Girls, drew 1-1; Waikato Diocesan, won 2-1; Auckland Diocesan, lost 1-0.
Quarter-final: St Cuthbert's Auckland, lost 3-1.
Play-off 5th-8th: Rangiruru, won 1-0.
Play-off 5th-6th: Villa Maria, won 2-1.
