Wairarapa sides to clash in Welington schoolgirls grand final

The grand final of the Wellington secondary schoolgirls premier division hockey competition at the National Hockey Stadium in Wellington next Friday will be an all-Wairarapa affair.
Wairarapa College and St Matthew's Collegiate will meet in the decider after winning close and exciting semi-final games last Friday evening.
First seeds Wairarapa College justified their billing with a 2-0 victory over Wellington East Girls while St Matthews Collegiate edged out powerful Samuel Marsden College by 2-1.
The news was not so good, however, for the Wairarapa College boys team who lost 3-2 to Wellington College in their premier division semi-final encounter.
Prospects for a Wairarapa College win looked bright when Trent Lett converted a stroke earned at a penalty corner just two minutes into the game but rather than dispirit Wellington College it had the opposite effect and they hit back with three unanswered goals to lead 3-1.
A Benedict van Woerkom goal from a drag flick at another penalty corner enabled Wairarapa College to close the gap to 2-3 by halftime and while neither side added to their total in a tense second half Wairarapa College came close.
They were awarded a stroke from a penalty corner in the 12th minute when a superb Aaron Oakley deflection was illegally blocked on the line by a defender. Unfortunately, however, the stroke was missed and despite some frantic attacking over the remainder of the game they could not find the equaliser.
It was though still a brave effort from Wairarapa Collehe whose skipper Bryden Hanson has actually been part of the first X! for his entire time at college, clocking up over 100 games for them in the process.