The Westlake Girls High School 2^nd XI Hockey team travelled to Rotorua to attend the Rotorua Secondary School Invitational Tournament (against all 1^st XI teams) in the first week of the holidays, travelling early Monday morning to play two games later that day.

First match up was Matamata 1^st XI girls, where the girls had a shaky start having spent four hours travelling, but soon started working as a team and dominated the game scoring four great goals (Ashley Brown x 2 Amy Lees Baker x 2) to Matamata’s one goal, coming away with a 4-1 win. The second match of the day was against JPC girls 1^st XI who we knew would be a tough match as they had a strong win against worthy opponents Western Heights earlier in the day who are always known as a tough team to beat.  The girls stepped their game up a notch with great positional play and linking and it became a see-saw match with each team dominating for periods of play.  The full time whistle blew with both teams remaining scoreless and a 0-0 draw.

Day 2 saw us facing Western Heights which would determine which team would gain a place in the final.  The girls put on another strong performance and dominated with possession of the ball but despite numerous opportunities to score, Charlotte Lockie was the only player to slot one into the back of the net.  However, this was enough to win the match, 1-0 and gain a place in the finals.

Tuesday afternoon saw a non-competition game against JPC 1^st XI boys where the girls played one of their best games with a gritty performance of tight marking, player to player passing and generally working well as a team resulting in a fairly even contest.

Day 3 saw the team in the finals against JPC Girls 1^st XI who they had drawn with on Day 1.  Once the girls overcame their nerves, they worked well as a team and played a stronger game than their 1^st game against JPC.  Goals from Kate Thornhill and Jess Reynolds put the team in a good position to take out the win but JPC came back strong in the last few minutes with a goal.  Tension was high as JPC attacked hard to try to equalise. A Penalty Corner for JPC on the final whistle created a nail biting finish – with WGHS fighting hard to prevent a final goal which they succeeded in doing taking out the game 2-1 and the trophy for the tournament.

Well done and special thanks to TIC Kate Segetin for giving up her time to attend the tournament in the school holidays, Geoff McNaughton (Team Coach) and Robyn McNaughton (Team Manager).