TARANAKI HOCKEY
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5 September 2005

Womens Major Championship 2nd Round

NPGHS took a significant step towards securing the Taranaki senior women's championship with a second half demolition of Tukapa in New Plymouth on Saturday. On the back of a weeks solid hockey at the Marie Fry National Secondary Schools Tournament where they finished third, the students won 6-1, having been locked up at 1-1 at the break. The game started in sensational fashion, with NPGHS forcing a penalty corner in the first minute. A neat deflection from Helen Riley high into the net came them the early lead. It took Tukapa a while to settle into its game and after 10 minutes they started to get some continuity in their game. Hampered by the absence of Amanda George in the front line and Lara Bertie in midfield, much of the workload fell on Alyssa Josephs and Sarah Linehan to try and get some go forward. NPGHS weren't doing themselves any favours by carrying the ball too far or delaying their linking passes out of defence, however they had a period of ascendancy midway through the half, before Tukapa equalised. A free hit outside the circle found Sarah Linehan on the left hand post and she converted. At half-time the scored remained 1-1. Tukapa immediately went on the attack at the restart, and were unlucky not to snatch the lead. After 5 minutes, the students gained the lead back through a great sequence of passes that saw Nicole Nancarrow score. Over the next ten minutes, the students gradually went up a gear, and in the 13th minute extended the lead through a penalty corner strike by Valissa Armstrong. Immediately after the re-start they regained possession, and a neat passing movement involving Armstrong and Nicole Nancarrow resulted in another penalty corner, which Nancarrow converted at the left hand post. Only three minutes later NPGHS converted another penalty corner this time by Shezanna Sadikeen at the right hand post, to make it 5-1. Tukapa moved Zoe Osborne up into the front line to try and spark some attack, but Tukapa couldn't maintain any continuity or had their attacks snuffed out by accurate tackling. The NPGHS midfield and forwards were now running at the Tukapa defence at every opportunity. With about 10 minutes to go Armstrong made a break down the centre of the field and fed Helen Riley, who was taken out by the goal keeper in the circle. Armstrong converted the penalty stroke to make it 6-1. NPGHS continued to dominate the balance of the half but could not add to their score. In the other match in the senior women's championship the Yarrows Masters got their game back on track with a 4-2 win over NPC. Yarrows Masters led 2-0 at the break, and Wendy Clough scored two goals, with one each to Carla Ralph and Jenny Bower. NPGHS can sew up the championship with a win over NPC next weekend.

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