North Harbour have had a dream start to the 14th Pan Pacific Youth Water Polo Festival after their under 16 girls claimed gold at the finals on Wednesday night. This is North Harbour’s third title at the 2016 Pan Pacs with the under 20s claiming double gold on Tuesday, and the club was inches away from its fourth when the under 16 boys went down in penalties against Canberra Academy. NSW Blues claimed bronze over Tauranga in the under 16 girls, and in one of two penalty matches of the evening, NSW CHS came up the 3rd place winners over Queensland.
U16 Girls’ Final
Finals nerves were apparent at the beginning of the under 16 girls’ final, as neither Marist Red nor North Harbour Maroon found the back of the net in the first quarter. In fact, the only goal of the half came from North Harbour left-hander Bernadette Doyle 11 minutes into the match – although credit must be given to both Marist and North Harbour goalkeepers for keeping their cages dry for such a long period.
Marist had the chance to equal at 3:41 when they were awarded a penalty, but they squandered the opportunity and let Doyle score her second down the other end for 2-0. Both teams didn’t step up to the mark to make the most of a 5-on-4 play, but Marist finally found their way past North Harbour goalie Bridget Layburn after nearly three quarters of the game when Caitlin Parker Allen scored. North Harbour earned an exclusion and it was Doyle who made her tally three for 3-1.
North Harbour had the chance to stretch the lead to three, but they missed their penalty and Marist made the most of their possession and scored through Issy Avis foe 3-2 with a quarter to play.
North Harbour’s Claudia Morgan was out on three, allowing Ellie Tomoana to draw level for the first time in the game at 4:32 in the last quarter. North Harbour’s Sarah Stewart had the ball and got up on her legs from range to fling one right into the back of the net for 4-3 at 2:39. After an exclusion and a time-out for each side, North Harbour had done it by the final whistle and backed up their 2014 win in both under 16s and under 14s. And just like 2014, Bernadette Doyle was named Most Valuable Player, deservingly, after scoring three of her team’s four goals.
Quarter goals NHB:MAR 0:0, 1:0, 2:2, 1:1
Scorers:
North Harbour: Sarah Stewart, Bernadette Doyle 3
Marist: Ellie Tomoana, Caitlin Mary Parker Allen, Issy Avis
U16 Boys’ Final
In another low-scoring final, Canberra Academy had the start and would score half of their goals in the first quarter through Guy Paulin and Matt Hosmer. It was North Harbour’s quarter in the second, and they followed in Canberra’s footsteps to draw level 2-2 at halftime via Sam Groom and Corban Wedlock-Aston.
North Harbour stole the lead 2-3 from their first possession of the quarter thanks to Liam Wedlock-Aston, and they looked keen to keep the momentum going. However, neither team could find goal for the third quarter and North Harbour entered the final quarter in the lead 2-3.
It took Canberra 48 seconds to equalise through Guy Paulin for his second of the match, and we had a final on our hands. North Harbour nudged back ahead a minute later from a set-play which saw one of the Wedlock-Aston twins create space and find the back of the net.
Both goalkeepers had a huge role in the small score lines, which included a massive save from North Harbour’s D Harris at 1:38 to keep his team in the lead. But J Holdway had a steady head and levelled 4-4 at 1:08, and the score stuck – forcing the match to be decided by penalty shoot-out.
It came down to North Harbour’s final shot as each team had scored every penalty, and goalkeeper C Moroney made a block to his bottom right to take Canberra to their second-ever Pan Pacific Youth Water Polo Festival title. Matt Hosmer was named Most Valuable player after he scored two goals in the final.
Quarter goals CBR:NHB 2:0, 0:2, 0:1, 2:1
Penalties: 5:4
Scorers:
Canberra 1: G Paulin 2, J Holdway, M Hosmer. Penalties: G Pavlin, J Holdway, N Taylor, J Frazer, M Hosmer
North Harbour Maroon: L Wedlock-Aston, S Groom, C Wedlock-Aston 2. Penalties: L Wedlock-Aston, C Wedlock-Aston, J Catlin, R Brown
U16 Girls’ Bronze
Tauranga had the lead from the get-go in the under 16 girls’ bronze medal match when Kayla Dew (2), Ashley Culpan, and Ella Pollock found the net in the first quarter. But NSW were up for a challenge and kept in touch with 3 through Georgia Dyson, Georgia Gray, and Nicola Schubert for 3-4 to Tauranga.
It was an even quarter in the second when each team scored one goal, and then NSW stepped up to score two more than Tauranga take the lead in the third quarter. Marijke Hattingh drew 8-8 level for Tauranga at 4:39, but NSW Blues caught fire for the rest of the match and scored three unanswered goals to take bronze.
Quarter goals NSW:TGA 3:4, 1:1, 4:2, 3:1
Scorers:
NSW Blues: Georgia Dyson 3, Georgia Gray, Gemma Harding 2, Georgia Polkington, Natasha M, Nicola Schubert, Madison Reynolds 2
Tauranga A: Kayla Dew 2, Grace Elisara 2, Ashley Culpan, Ella Pollock, Shinae Carrington, Marijke Hattingh
U16 Boys’ Bronze
In a State of Origin battle for bronze, NSW CHS were leading by four midway through the third quarter, but Queensland dug deep to claw back into the game, eventually taking the lead 10-9 with 43 seconds to go, but NSW scored to force the game into penalties. New South Wales scored four to Queensland’s two to take 3rd in the under 16 boys'.
Quarter goals NSW:QLD 3:2, 3:2, 2:3, 2:3
Penalties: 4:2
Scorers:
New South Wales CHS: C Chapman, M Byrnes, M Humby 3, M Robinson 2, B Moller, H Naven 2. Penalties: M Hodge, C Chapman, M Humby, B Moller.
Queensland: Ford, Andrews 3, Fry, Quinn 3, Townsend 2. Penalties: Mackie, Townsend.
That's a wrap for week one! There's a whole lot more action coming on Friday when the under 14 and under 18 competitions commence! Tomorrow is the official Festival rest day, before another huge water polo week at the Pan Pacific Youth Water Polo Festival.
Thanks must go to all players, parents, coaches, managers, officials, referees, our sponsors, and everybody else behind the scenes who have helped to make the first week of the 14th Pan Pacific Youth Water Polo Festival as succssful as it was. A special thanks goes to Spalk, who assisted to bring us the commentated live streams of the under 16 and under 20 finals. We are so looking forward to see what week two will bring! Enjoy the rest day and we will see you on Friday.
Great game for both teams. Thank you for the coverage. Our son is Guy Paulin on the Canberra Water Polo team, would you be able to correct the spelling of his name? You have him as G. Pavlin, it should be Paulin. We would like to keep this article for him as a remembrance. Thanks again and Congrats to all!
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