Mixed fortunes for Central hockey teams
Both Central’s under-18 boys’ and girls’ teams had a win and a loss to start the national tournament at the twin turfs.
The Central girls beat North Harbour 5-2 yesterday after their 5-2 loss against Auckland on the opening day on Sunday.
Against Harbour, Megan Phillips, Olivia Shannon and Casey Crowley scored to have Central up 3-0 at halftime, before they conceded two goals, but Natasha Cowx and Emma Rainey then added to the score sheet to put the result beyond doubt.
In the game against Auckland, Central were down 2-0 before Phillips scored either side of halftime to level it.
But they conceded a goal straight after, then two more from penalty corners.
In other girls’ games yesterday, Capital beat Midlands 1-0, Canterbury beat South 4-1 and Auckland beat Northland 5-1.
In Sunday’s girls’ games, Midlands beat South 2-0, North Harbour beat Northland 4-1 and Canterbury beat Capital 3-2 in a penalty shootout after it was level 3-3 at fulltime.
The Central boys beat Northland 4-1 on Sunday, but lost to Canterbury 5-3 on a penalty shootout yesterday.
Against Canterbury, Central came from behind to tie the game up 1-1 at fulltime thanks to a goal from Brendan Payne, but were outdone on penalties.
Against Northland, Central were up 3-0 at halftime through goals by James Torrie, Same Davies and Ryan Gray, then Jordan Cohen scored in the second half, before Northland scored a consolation goal with two minutes left.
In other boys’ encounters yesterday, North Harbour beat South 1-0, Midlands beat Capital 2-1 and Auckland beat Northland 3-0.
In boys’ games on Sunday, North Harbour beat Capital 4-3 in a shootout after it was locked 2-2 at fulltime, South beat Midlands 2-1 and Auckland beat Canterbury 3-0 in a shootout after their game ended 2-2 at the end of regulation time.
The Central boys play Auckland at 2.30pm today and the Central girls play Northland at 4pm.
Tomorrow is a rest day, then crossover games start on Thursday.