The CGHS 1st XI Hockey girls headed up to Auckland last week to attend the top tier national tournament, the Federation Cup.

We started strongly, finishing top of our pool with wins verse Western Heights High School (6-0), Columba College (4-2) and St Matthew’s Collegiate School (3-0). Therefore, we played Palmerston North Girls’ High School as we did last year, in our crossover game to make the top 8. After a 1-1 draw at full time we went to shootout where it was tied again, forcing us into a sudden death shootout where Gracie Ansell got us over the line as well as one of our goalkeepers Harriet Rowse.

The Quarter Final saw us play our old foes Rangi Ruru in a local derby. The girls produced a strong team performance, coming out on top with a 2-1 win. This meant we progressed into the top 4 and were the only team to make the top 4 again from the previous year. Another local derby, matching up against St Margaret’s College in a repeat of our semi-final back home. Again, another toughly contested game but the girls earnt their spot in the final after a 3-2 victory.

In the final we faced St Cuthbert’s College from Auckland. The girls played with a lot of passion and determination holding Cuths to 0-0 for the majority of the game until the 4th Quarter where they capitalised on a penalty corner. We had a number of opportunities but unfortunately couldn’t put them away. However, the girls were extremely happy finishing 2nd out of 32 teams at the highest secondary school level.

The 2019 CGHS 1st XI will be known as the team that made history, with our results being the best CGHS has ever done!!! It was a pleasure being a part of such an amazing team and we all couldn’t be prouder wearing the red and blue dress whilst doing so.