A crushing 4-0 win over Northland yesterday took Wairarapa into the semi-finals of the national under-18 girls hockey tournament being played in Wellington.
All of the Wairarapa goals came during a first half which coach Richard Fenwick labelled as "their best of the season."
"We created chances and we put them away??.that's what you have to do to succeed at this level," Fenwick said.
Wairarapa's first goal came within the very minute of play and if that was a big knock to Northland confidence then their scoring of their fourth goal in the last minute of that spell was even bigger.
"Pyschologically that fourth goal was the killer, we were looking pretty comfortable then," Fenwick said.
For Wairarapa the second half was all about consolidating their position and ensuring any sort of Northland recovery was kept on the back burner.
"We were probably a little more defensive-minded then I would have liked but I suppose that was understandable," Fenwick said.
Three of the Wairarapa goals were scored by Elizabeth Perry, who demonstrated just why she has already captured the attention of the national selectors at age group level. She constantly tormented the Northland defence with her speed and aggression, even when subjected to some very close marking.
The other Wairarapa player to shine in what was a quality team effort was Kylie Henderson, who was at centre forward in the first half and inside right in the second.
Opposing Wairarapa in today's semi-final was Manawatu, a team they have played twice already this season. They were beaten 4-1 the first time and drew 5-5 the second.
Fenwick was expecting a titanic struggle with Manawatu having a number of classy players, especially in their attacking formation."We've got a 50-50 chance and that will do us,' he said.
Playing in the other semi-final were Auckland and North Harbour.
Wairarapa have also made a strong showing at the national under-18 boys tournamnt in Dunedin, making it through to the quarter-finals where they lost 6-0 to Otago A.
Their last two pool games were against Otago B and Wellington and resulted in a win and a loss.
Halfbacks Wills Pendergast, Richard French and Hamish Merriman were the stars of the 6-0 win over Otago B while goalie Sam French, Jay Hodhkiss, Adam cott and Cole Aplin stood out in the 4-2 loss to Wellington which scored their final two goals in the last five minutes of play.
Girls hockey team into semi-finals
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