By Paige Blake
1st XI Captain
After a lot of waiting, the 1st XI hockey team was finally able to attend a tournament to end off the season!
Although it was not the magnitude of Federation Cup that we all expected at the beginning of this year, the 2020 Upper North Island Secondary Schools Festival was a great success for the team, as we were able to play against some of the top schools in the country. The intensity and enthusiasm was evident in our first game against Baradene and we were able to score within the first few minutes of the game! The team continued to play quality hockey until the end of the match and we came away with a whole lot of confidence after a 6-0 win.
Later on that day we played one of our toughest rivals from the North Harbour competition, St Mary’s College. We were prepared for St Mary’s to come out hard at us from the start of the game and knew we needed to come out just as hard and secure a spot in the semi-finals. However, St Mary’s capitalised on an early error by the team and scored the first goal of the match early in the first half. The team was able to bounce back and equalise within a few minutes and then put in another goal in the second half, but St Mary’s continued to fight and were able to score within the last few minutes to draw the game. We couldn’t manage to score another goal and secure a place in the semi-finals but a 2-2 draw made use even more determined to make it to the playoffs.
We started day two with our final game of the pool play which was a must win game against Diocesan, the girls were nervous but also excited to get back out on the turf and secure the semi-final spot that was so important to us. The game was scoreless until Dio put one in the back of the net to go up 1-0, this lead didn’t last for long though as we were able to get one back and tie the game at 1-1. We knew that a draw would take us through to the semi-finals so for the rest of the game we made a huge defensive effort to ensure Dio wouldn’t score. Everyone was stoked after booking a place in the top four and headed back home to get some rest and recover before what would be a huge game against St Cuthberts that afternoon.
Nerves were high as we made our way to the turf for game three of the tournament, which was our semi against St Cuthberts. We knew taking on the reigning national champs was never going to be an easy task but knew that a win was most definitely achievable for us. The game started off with a bang as St Cuthberts put away an early goal and we came straight back with a goal of our own to make the score 1-1. The score didn’t change until later in the second half when St Cuthberts scored from a penalty corner, but again we came straight back and scored less than one minute later! A 2-2 draw at full time meant that the game needed to be decided by a shootout, five players from each team stepped up and took the shootouts. We were able to put away two of our five shootouts but St Cuthberts were able to score three of theirs which meant that they would progress to the final. Obviously the team was upset about the loss but we’re proud to have taken one of the best teams in the country all the way to the last shot.
The next day was the third and final day of the tournament where we would play against Dio for the second time but this time we were fighting for a bronze medal. It’s never easy to bounce back after a defeat in the semifinals but as a team we knew that in our last game together it was important to give everything we had left. The game was another close one as yet again it looked like we would head to a shootout with a few minutes to go and the score tied at 1-1 , but Dio was able to win a penalty corner and score from it. The game ended up 2-1 to Dio and we walked off the turf without a medal, but as a team we were extremely proud of our achievements in the tournament and the year as a whole because it has been a difficult season but we have all trained and played so hard despite the setbacks. Just a massive thank you to our management team for all your hard work this season and to our girls leaving us, thanks for being such amazing role models and leaders within the team. Also a massive shout out to the 2nd XI for winning the Division B tournament, you guys work so hard and deserve the win!