Wairarapa were denied a place in the final of the national under-18 girls hockey tournament in Wellington by one stroke in a penalty shoot-out.
They were tied 1-1 with Manawatu at the end of play and it was Manawatu who did the better in the shoot-out which followed, converting three of their attempts to Wairarapa's two.
It was a gut-wrenching way to lose for a Waiararapa side which had competed £rongly against the more-favoured Manawatu combination.
But while actually creating enough scoring chances to win the game in ordinary time all they had to show for their efforts was a superb field goal by national age group rep Elizabeth Perry.
"They gave it everything they had and probably did deserve to win," Wairarapa coach Richard Fenwick said of his team. "We had their defence struggling to contain us on numerous occasions but the goals just didn't come."
The loss in the semi-final took Wairarapa into a play-off for third and fourth and there they lost to Auckland 3-0, a much better result than the 6-0 defeat Auckland had inflicted on them in pool play.
"Again we had as much of the game as did Auckland, but they managed to score and we didn't," Fenwick said.
Fenwick was delighted, however, with the vast improvement made by Wairarapa on the previous year when they finished with a seeding of 14. Now they are seeded fourth. "To improve 10 places in one year isn't something you can complain about, is it", He said, adding that up to 12 of the Wairarapa players would again be eligible for selection next year.
Hockey U-18 girls lose in shoot-out
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