Hockey: Wanganui Under 18 rep teams do well at Gonville mini tournaments

Wanganui's Jacob Wulfe tries to fight through two Taranaki defenders at Gonville on Sunday.

Both the Wanganui Under 18 teams turned in strong performances in their mini-tournaments at the Gonville Domain on Sunday.

Matches were held from the morning into the early evening, with games played over 60 minutes with a five minute halftime.

The Wanganui boys team won their mini tournament against Horowhenua and Taranaki, starting off the day's action with a 3-2 win over Horowhenua, before drawing 1-1 with Taranaki in the mid-afternoon.

Horowhenua and Taranaki played to a 1-1 draw at lunchtime.

"It was good for their first game together, we've had two trainings and half of the squad at one, then half of the squad at the other," said coach Colleen Baylis.

Other sporting and hockey commitments did not allow the teams, many of them new to each other's company, more buildup together.

"We scored early [against Horowhenua], we were up 2-0," said Baylis.

Horowhenua tied the match 2-2 in the second half, before Wanganui got the matchwinner with less than 10 minutes to go and then defended in front of goal to the finish.

Kaelin Mooney scored a double, with Kian Belk also finding the back of the net.

The second game started five hours later.

"The Taranaki game was a different affair," said Baylis.

"They're a different breed when it comes to umpiring in Taranaki.

"There was a few interesting calls."

Wanganui had to defend with a player down for the end of the first half, after Taranaki had already gone 1-0 up, but managed to hang on.

Connor Hoskin, who was backing up from Manawatu Premier the day before for Tech College Old Boys, managed to get the equaliser as part of an excellent match.

Jack Norman also led well from the back as Wanganui earned the tie to take out the tournament.

The Wanganui girls team likewise did not have ideal warmup to face Taranaki and Manawatu Under 18's, with three of the home team squad being borrowed from Horowhenua, while coach Jan Dixon was not available for the first match.

After losing to Taranaki 3-1 mid-morning, Wanganui came back and beat Manawatu 2-1 in a 4.45pm match that finished under lights.

"[Manawatu] had most of the attack in the first half, 1-0," said Dixon.

"I think our goalie in the second half only touched the ball twice.

"It was good for only our second time together."

Loan player Nikita O'Sullivan had a good match, while local Olivia Smith was really strong on defence.

Discussions are now underway for the Wanganui team's to play another Under 18 mini tournament at Gonville on June 10, against Taranaki and Manawatu.

Meanwhile, another talent youngster in Whanganui High School's Jordan Cohen has been selected for Hockey NZ's Pathway to Podium (P2P) for 2018-19.

P2P is a partnership between Hockey NZ and High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ) to run development camps and also deliver regional support for learning strengthening, conditioning, and adapting to a fulltime athlete's lifestyle.

The first of the training camps was held last week in the Hawke's Bay.

Cohen was one of 20 boys and girls players from around the country taking part.