The football team had a very successful and enjoyable week at the Lotto Sportswear tournament in Invercargill.

We only had two pool games because of a bye in the first round, and we won both matches convincingly, beating Logan Park 2-0 and St Kevin’s 3-1. This put us up against Kavanagh in the cross -over match, and it turned out to be a very close affair. We were 2-0 down at half-time but fought back strongly in the second half, with a stunning long shot goal from Sophie Gaudin. Unfortunately we couldn’t break through their firm defence again and lost 2-1.

Instead of playing for 1-4, we were therefore in the 5-8 group. We won our last two games against Villa Maria 2-1 and St Kevin’s again 1-0 to finish 5th. With a record of played five won four lost one and only 4 goals conceded, we felt we had played extremely well for our 5th place finish! Congratulations to all of the players, who represented Columba with pride and grace and were a pleasure to be away with, and to top scorer Sienna Harper (5 goals) and our MVP for the tournament Charlotte Hayes. Grateful thanks also go to coach Neil Gaudin and manager for the week, Donna LaHood, who gave so generously of their time and expertise.