NZ GIRLS TAKE ON THE AUSSIES....

Last night saw the first test held at the Millennium Institute against New Zealand U18 Girls vs Australia U18 Girls. The Australian teams have had two weeks together, playing in the Pan Pacific Youth Festival which has just finished in Auckland. Our kiwi girls have been playing for their local clubs heading towards this three game test series.

Coach Richard Claridge and his team are working towards the FINA Youth Women’s World Championships being held in Auckland, NZ in December 2016. He is keen to ensure the girls get as much overseas exposure as possible and this was a relatively inexpensive way of ensuring we played an international team.
The first quarter saw both teams coming to terms with the physical side of the game and many turnovers against both sides. The kiwi girls were first to score with 2.32min left in the quarter with Tate Renata scoring a goal from CF position. The Aussie girls equalised with just over a minute left. Score 1-1 at the end of the first quarter.

By now the girls from New Zealand were starting to play as the tight knit team they are and Richard Claridge and Jess Dorman were relatively pleased with this quarter. 
The second quarter saw some great saves from NZ goalkeeper Alisha Winstanley and some tight defensive work from the kiwi girls. An opportunity to score on a 6-5 for the kiwi girls went unanswered and the Australia girls took the chance to score off an error by the girls from NZ. Score at half time 1-2 to AUS.

A ball under against NZ at the beginning of the third quarter saw AUS take and successfully pot their 5 metre shot. Within a minute of this NZ girls managed to score a 5 metre penalty with goal scorer for NZ Stacey Landry. 2-3 to AUS. With 5.42minutes left in the quarter AUS scored a beautiful top left hand shot from 8 metres to which the kiwi girls matched immediately with a great goal from Centre Forward for NZ, Emily Nicolson. Over the next few minutes the kiwis took control with two goals on the board. In the final minute of the quarter Emily Nicolson worked her magic again and slotted a goal into the corner to see the third quarter end NZ 4 AUS 6.

The final quarter could have gone either way. Both teams worked hard to gain that edge over each other and score ended with AUS scoring on the last second of the quarter to win the first test 8-5. Goal scorer for NZ in this quarter again saw Emily Nicholson fight hard to score.

Tonight we will see the kiwi girls take on the Aussies again at Millennium Institute at 6.30pm followed by the boys game at 8.00pm.

Free Entry so come along and support our young NZ teams of the future.