U18W TASMAN DISTRICTS TEAM QB MINI-TOURNAMENT -(Report) CHRISTCHURCH

The Tasman Under 18 girls team in Christchurch over the weekend achieved 3 wins from the 3 matches they had .

After coming together this season and having had several days together the side needed game match play together and these three matches provided perfect National Tournament preparation .

The weekend began with the girls playing South Canterbury, in a match which they started fantastically well and soon had a two goal lead after strikers Emma Boddy and Alyssa Blacktopp netted after great lead up play from the midfield . Further goals to Miya Ellis and Captain Jessica Davidson saw Tasman get to a comfortable lead based on good , fast controlled hockey . South Canterbury did net twice in the final 3 minutes to end the match with a Tasman 4-2 victory . Overall it was a good first up match together .

Scorers :  Emma Boddy

                Alyssa Blacktopp

                Miya Ellis

                Jessica Davidson

There second match against Mid Canterbury resulted in a very comfortable 6-2 win . In another improved performance in which passes / connections and communication began to get to the level needed . If it wasn’t for countless excellent goalkeeping saves by the Mid Canterbury goalkeeper the score would have at least doubled for the Tasman girls .An indication of the Tasman girls dominance was the penalty corner count of 13 / 1 in our favour .

Scorers :  Jessica Davidson (3)

                Miya Ellis

                Tilly Sorensen-Brown

                Alyssa Blacktopp

The girls final match was realistically there big test of the weekend and the opportunity to show if they were on the right track performance wise when they played the strong Canterbury B side . This game was an amazing watch for all who saw it with end to end attacking hockey from the starting whistle to the final play of the match , which Tasman came out deserved winners by 5-4 . The scoring in this match see-sawed throughout from team to team until Tasman broke the trend in the final quarter when Tasman outscored Canterbury. This match saw the Tasman girls also have the penalty corner count advantage by 8-5 . The highlight of this performance was the matching of the Canterbury girls in both pace and skills as well as the intensity needed at this level of hockey . Many of the Tasman goals were of a very high class including several reverse stick rocket hits , as well as some well worked penalty corner variations .

Scorers :  Jessica Davidson (3)

                Emma Boddy

                Alyssa Blacktopp

In summary all three matches showed continued improvement from the entire team as they begin to play matches together and get accustomed to one another and the standard needed to compete at the upcoming National Tournament in Wellington . It is now vital that the side continues to train and play hard in continued preparation .

Cheers Phil Bone ( Coach )

In behalf of NHA we would like to send U18W Team our congratulations for all your achievements during the weekend.

Congratulations!