Australian Born '98s start strong in Under 18s

The Australian Born '98s have had a strong start against Auckland's North Harbour, beating them 3 goals to 6.

A tight first quarter saw the score stand at 0-1 in favour of Australia, with J. Wall scoring from a man-up play.

North Harbour's Daniel Marsden equalised at the very end of the second quarter to make the scores 1 a piece heading into the second half.

A strong third quarter for Australia after some stern words from coach Andrei Koralanko saw them take a two goal lead with goals from N. Hallam (2) and Lachlan McKenzie (1) to make the score 4-2 heading into the final 6 minutes.

FROM ABOVE: AUS '98s stop another North Harbour offence

Hallam scored two more in the final quarter to make his tally four, whilst one of North Harbour's four left-handers, Josh Miller, managed one down the other end. Final score 6-3 in favour of the Australians.

"It's actually, to be honest, our first game together," said Australian Coach Andrei Koralanko, "a lot of work has to be done. It was very important to us that we won this game."

"The goal for the tournament is to work with this team and build up. It's a starting point for World Championships in 2016." 

Koralanko believes that the opposition North Harbour team didn't play to their potential.

"We saw how good North Harbour played in the Under 20 tournament and a few of the players in that team [Under 18] were in Under 20s - so they know how to win."