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Winners are Grinners
 
Photo by Miss D Turnbull

Hearts in Hockey

Miss Turnbull —

The First XI Hockey Team equal their best ever finish at the national Federation Cup Tournament held in Auckland over Winter Sports Week. Gaining the title of 15th best secondary school team in the Country at the top tier event!

8 days, 7 nights, 6 Year 13 leavers, 5 realistic mafia murders, 4 magically crafted skits/car pool karaoke performances, 3 plates minimum at Genghis - all you can eat, 2 dramatic shoot outs, and 1 heck of a good time!!  Winter sports week was one for the memory banks filled with experiences this group will never forget.  

The week was filled with highs and very few lows. Having top contenders Christchurch Girls in their pool it meant all other games in the section were crucial if they wanted to make top 16. The team was aware St Mathews were a good side and had to play quality hockey, which they did for the whole game in order claim a 2-1 to win. This began Columba on a high and set the teams tournament up nicely, playing classy hockey and enjoying every moment on and off the field. 

Unfortunately they faced a cross-over of doom drawing the top ranked team of St Cuthbert's to fight for a position in the top 8. 

Due to every game being a knock out this number one side had completely out-classed all of their competitors in its earlier rounds winning each game by double digits. Columba were complete underdogs and aimed to put up a solid fight and ended the game closer than any other opposition with a 6-0 scoreline. Not too bad when you're versing a Black Stick and a bunch of NZ age group players. These two teams are good friends and shared a picture together after offering support and backing for the rest of the games. 

Through the remainder of the event Columba had a mixture of results, narrowly missing out on top 12 and unluckily losing a shoot out for the 13/14 playoff.  Nevertheless these girls held their heads high, overall gaining a 15th placing in an incredibly exciting final game to end their week on a high and claim a 3-2 shootout win after a 2-2 full time score. Ella McCall opened the scoring with a penalty corner rebound and Cierra Ried finished off another precision penalty corner (called by corner specialist coach Regan!). 2-0 up the girls let Orewa back into the game and scores were level at 2-2! The girls had many chances late in the game including a Liv Preston rocket being somewhat illegally saved but to no avail from the umpires. Shootout again... but our superstar legend of a keeper Poppy stepped up to the game (all the shootout training with coach Lil)! Ella McCall and Jorja dynamite Dinan converting but Orewa also equaled 2-2 at the end of the first 5. Sudden death was upon us and with two awesome saves from Poppy and captain fantastic- Head Girl extraordinaire Liv Preston put the Orewa keeper in a spin cycle for a 3-2 shootout win.

It was an awesome game and a fantastic way to finish for our legendary Year 13s - Liv Preston, Charlotte Wheeler, Audrey Hayes, Ella McCall, Steph and Andrea Smith. All 16 girls gave 110% effort all week and have proved that playing in the big leagues is where they belong.

From holes in the wall from an accidental fall down the stairs through to a running joke on the amount of times Jorja Dinan can pose on any given day made for a highly entertaining week of singing, dancing, smiles and laughter not to mention blood, sweat and tears for our First XI Hockey team.  It will certainly be a tournament I will never forget, big thank you to our two magnificent coaches and of course the one and only Lisa Preston for all her organisation and management. Bring on next year, our doves are flying!!