U15 Hockey teams score freely at champs

With seven goals in two games, Blake Hoskin is top scorer for the Whanganui boys at their National U15 Hockey championships in Dunedin.
PHOTO / Cindy Hoskin

The Whanganui boys and girls teams have been on a scoring spree at their respective U15 National Hockey second-tier championship tournaments this week.

Playing in Dunedin, the boys whipped central Otago 6-1 on Monday and then absolutely annihilated North Otago 20-nil yesterday morning.

Coached by former Black Stick Robbie Matthews, the boys have drawn the tough Pool A with Canterbury B, Wellington B and North Harbour B also in action, but their form suggests they will be competitive as the tournament progresses.

The boys were set to play Canterbury B late yesterday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the girls under coach Jan Dixon beat Manawatu B 4-nil on Monday, then comprehensively dealt to Wairarapa B 10-nil. They have drawn Pool D in Carterton and their toughest match in pool play will be Poverty Bay, a team they beat last year.

With only four teams in the pool, the Whanganui girls have already qualified for the quarter-finals regardless of yesterday's game against Poverty Bay.

Matthews said the first two matches of the tournament were all-round solid team efforts by the boys, although she too conceded the tougher match-ups were yet to come.

"There have been some higher-scoring games than ours so far and by teams we have yet to meet. Canterbury, North Harbour and Wellington will all be tough, but I think the boys are up to it," Matthews said.

Goal scorers for the boys against Central Otago included Connor Managh (2), and Blake Hoskin, Charlie Sutton, Charnce Tangiiau and Ben Havord one each.

In the goal-scoring bonanza against North Otago yesterday morning the lads again shared it round with top scorers Sutton and Hoskin slotting six apiece, while Managh and Tangiiau scored two each.

For the girls on Monday Margaret Hazelhurst, Ngatatau Tumango, Maggie Jones and Jan Abraham scored one each, while Tumango hit the back of the net three times against Wairarapa B, Abraham and Nicole Parata twice each and Jones, Olivia Smith and Charlotte Baker one each.

"Our toughest game will be against Poverty Bay. They have some nice players. We did beat them last year when we finished the tournament in fifth spot," Dixon said.

By Iain Hyndman
Whanganui Chronicle 3/10/18