There are a few places to be on day four of the 2016 Pan Pacific Youth Water Polo Festival as the tournaments reach the pointy end!
Under 20 Women
Marist and
North Harbour have cleared the field in the under 20 women’s competition to
qualify for the grand final after winning their semi-finals this evening at St.
Cuthbert’s College. Waitakere will round out the third of four Kiwi teams in
the top four, whilst Australia Green will be keen to nab a bronze ahead of the
under 18 competition next week.
Marist (NZL) vs. Waitakere (NZL)
Waitakere
fought their way into the semi-finals by beating Australia Gold early in the afternoon,
but they couldn’t back it up in their semi against Marist. Marist took a quick
run of goals through Malia Josephson, Mikayla Eruera, and Annabel Harman to go
up 3-0 after the first quarter.
Kelsey
Snelgar made the gap four for Marist from a 5-on-4, before Waitakere switched
into gear and upped their defence to hold Marist for the next six minutes, and
managed to score two of their own through Aimee Cogger and Brogan Houghton with
an achievable 5-2 halftime score.
Waitakere’s
Katie Lush gave away a penalty to let Marist’s Josephson score her second, but
the West Auckland side bounced back in the next possession to earn two man-up
plays, working the ball to let Emmerson Houghton make her mark for 6-3. Marist
moved up the pool to score through Tate Renata and head up 7-3, but Katie Lush
had the last say of the quarter and it was 7-4 with a quarter to play.
Marist
stepped it up in the fourth to score two quick goals in just over a minute in the
fourth (Mikayla Eruera, Gabbie Milicich), to steer Waitakere down the path of a
five-goal deficit. Two more goals were scored (Marist’s Snelgar with a penalty,
Waitakere’s Lush) but the buffer remained for a 10-5 final score.
Goals:
Marist 10
(Tate Renata, Malia Josephson 2, Gabbie Milicich 2, Mikayla Eruera 2, Annabel
Harman, Kelsey Snelgar 2)
Waitakere 5
(Aimee Cogger, Emmerson Houghton, Katie Lush 2, Brogan Houghton)
North Harbour (NZL) vs. Australia Gold (AUS)
It took
over three minutes and five exclusions including a penalty opportunity for
either North Harbour or Australia Green to score in the second under 20 women’s
semi-final. It was North Harbour’s Katie McKenty who put her name on the
scoresheet first at 3:48, and the next goal didn’t come for another three
minutes as A Lefoe found the back of the net for the young Australians. There
were only 35 seconds left in the quarter, but North Harbour strung together two
goals: a penalty scored by Jess Marsden, and a 0:01 buzzer-beater from Emily
Nicholson at halfway where the ball bounced off the left and right posts for a
coast-to-coast. North Harbour had the edge with a 3-1 lead after the first
seven minutes.
In a strong
second quarter, they held Australia to one goal (Indie Halligan) and scored two
of their own (Katie McKenty, Sarah Doyle) to push their lead out to three.
The North
Shore side pushed it out to four with McKenty’s third, before Australia scored
two goals in 50 seconds (A Freeman, A Andrews), forcing North Harbour to call a
time-out to extinguish the Aussie momentum. It worked initially, North Harbour
drew an exclusion and allowed McKenty’s fourth goal, but Australia fired up to
come right back into the match and head into the fourth one-goal down at 7-6.
Emily
Nicholson was pivotal for North Harbour and left Australia Green searching for
answers as she scored a hugely impressive three goals in a row to effectively
sink Australia with a four-goal lead and the momentum. Grace Tobin put the icing
on the cake for North Harbour as they went five up with 3:42 and put a finals
berth out of reach for the Australians. North Harbour goalkeeper Alisha
Winstanley – fresh from a season in the NZWPNL with the North Harbour CBS women
– was a huge presence in goal, saving a penalty which marked a shift in
momentum in the match. The final few minutes were hectic, with an exclusion, a
penalty, a goal, and a yellow and red card the way of North Harbour as the
match wound up at 12-7 in favour of the Auckland club.
Goals:
North
Harbour 12 (Sarah Doyle, Jessica Marsden 2, Katie McKenty 4, Grace Tobin, Emily
Nicholson 4)
Australia
Gold: 7 (Indi Halligan, A Freeman, A Andrews 2, A Hodgson, A Lefoe, S Miliken)
Under 20 Men
Hutt and
North Harbour have emerged as the top two sides of the championship round in
the under 20 men’s, but each side had to prove themselves to get there. Hutt
snatched a one-goal victory in the final second over Marist Mavericks yesterday,
and came up trumps against Australia 2000 by the same margin. North Harbour
found their match in the North San Diego Stars by drawing 14-14, and had to
fend off a valiant Sea Wolf 16-12.
Defending
Pan Pacs champions North Harbour will take on Marist Mavericks in the first
semi-final at 12:35 at the National Aquatic Centre, whilst Hutt will play Sea
Wolf in the second. This means that seven of eight teams in the women’s and men’s
top four are New Zealand-based out of an impressive international field.
In the
plate round, NSW Blues are looking strong and haven’t dropped a match – their closest
rivals were TauWai Taniwha this evening at 19-13.
Under 16 Girls
In the
under 16 girls’, South Africa, NSW Waratahs, North Harbour Maroon, and Tauranga
A have come out on top and will contest the quarter-finals against Marist Red,
NSW Blues, Canberra 1, and Queensland, respectively. Two quarter-finals take
place at Diocesan (10:30am, 11:40am), and two at St. Cuthbert’s (10:10am,
11:00am). The visiting sides have impressed and will make up five of eight top sides.
In the
under 16 boys’, defending champions Tauranga have dipped out, leaving NSW CHS,
Queensland, Canberra, and North Harbour on top, with NSW Blues, Marist Red,
North San Diego, and Waitakere Gold hot on their heels. The boys’
quarter-finals take place at Sacred Heart (9:40am, 10:30am) and West Wave
(9:55am, 10:45am) on Tuesday morning.
Look at the results and draw here to find out everywhere you need to be tomorrow.
Check out all of our photos from throughout the Festival here.
No comments:
Post a Comment