That's the way the game went; Harbour scored, Mountfort responded. With further goals to Harbour's Stuart Hofmeyr and Luc Worthington by half time, the scoreboard read 3-2 in favour of the Harbour Boys.
North Harbour's Stuart Hofmeyr nails the outside shot against Mountfort Park blockers.
The team North of the Bridge, led by coach Chelsea Geary, came out of their halftime teamtalk with all guns a-blazing; with Flynn Howarth-Dawson and Luc Worthington nailing quick-fire shots to take the lead 5-2 over Mountfort.
But as per the nature of this game, Mountfort was sure to retaliate, eventually outscoring the Harbour side in the third quarter with 3 goals in a row to Travis Cobb, Caerwyn Tomuli-Afoa and Tevyn Anitelea. This exciting matchup came to a 5-5 draw by the end of the third quarter.
Mountfort Park bench late in the 3rd quarter.
The Harbour boys again took the lead early in the fourth quarter, with Caldwell scoring his second goal of this game, and of the tournament, and Worthington earning himself a hat-trick. Up by two goals, Caerwyn Tomuli-Afoa showed his dominance, scoring again with 1:51 left on the clock. A tactical timeout was taken by the Mountfort Park coach during their attacking 6 on 5 which saw #4 Callum Watson with the ability to successfully execute the advantage play from a strong shot off the right wing - equalising the scoreboard 7-7 with only 1 minute left in the game. North Harbour's #3 Brian Lee earned himself a Penalty shot with 40 seconds left in the game, and passed it on to teammate Stuart Hofmeyr to take. With the right decision, Hofmeyr was able to finish it off with the winning goal to take the lead for his Harbour B boys, the final score reading 8-7 over the Mountfort Park Boys.
North Harbour B coach Chelsea Geary and her ecstatic team after the nail-biting win.
With all the quarter and semi-finals played at Sacred Heart today, this was without a doubt, the most thrilling game to watch.
North Harbour's Josh Caldwell stoked with his first two goals of the tournament.
North Harbour B Boys will now go off to play in the 9th/10th Final tomorrow.
Well, how about that, look at those cute little tots after their big win! It's times like these that will remind them why they are privileged to play the grand sport of water polo. And how far the sport has come! Back in my youth, we used to have to train on the footie paddock with the first fifteen. It was tougher times back then, but I think all those days I spent lying facedown in the mud, paddling and rolling my way towards the 22 helped give me the grit and determination to take the world by storm! Jeff with a "G" out!
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