Sue Gregory Reports...

9th June 2008


Despite illness and injury a depleted Waikato Under 18 Boys team won both games against Tauranga and Bay of Plenty at the Tauranga hosted Tri-Series held in the weekend.

In the first match of the day against Tauranga, Waikato once again started slowly allowing Tauranga to score first. Despite many shots on goal only one was succesful in the first half seeing the half time score level at 1 all.
Tauranga opened the scoring once more in the second half making Waikato play catch up hockey. Captain Tom Lysaght rallied his team and great defence saw Tauranga shut down and Waikato begin to dominate. Final score 3-2 to Waikato.
Coaches Truman Wee and Aaron Barnsdall were pleased with the gutsy performance from the 11 boys who played 70 minutes each due to key players being unavailable through illness. Our only reserve Blair Nicholson, who was also ill, ran on for 15 minutes in the 2nd half against Tauranga to provide some brief relief to some of the other 11 players.

The second match saw Waikato dominate Bay of Plenty 6-0. Despite the hard match in the morning, Waikato once again unleashed a torrent of strikes on goal, well defended by an in-form BOP goalkeeper. Excellent goal keeping by Tom Lysaght kept BOP scoreless. On attack Te Kuru Dewes ran strongly and showed excellent skills in and around the circle. Again this week Chris Harding and Gwylim Prosser demonstrated tenacity and a high work rate in both games. Player of the Day went to Jackson Walsh for his consistent performance.

This Waikato Under 18 boys team is on track to do well at the National U18 Boys Premier Tournament hosted in Hamilton from 7-12 July.

Next up on 22 June is a Tri-Series against North Harbour and Northland. North Harbour looked impressive at the recent Queens Birthday tournament and Waikato know they will need another solid performance if they wish to continue their winning streak.

Sue Gregory
Team Manager