Hockey: City Highlanders hold nerve in penalty shoot out

King's A and City Highlanders met on Saturday in the minor semifinal of the premier men's hockey competition with City winning 5-3 on strokes after both teams were locked at 1-1 after regulation time.

The King's attack was unable to get any traction against a well-organised City defence.

Even playmaker Todd Gould was having a tough time carrying the ball into the circle, denied the time and space that he usually receives from less wary opponents.

King's resorted to long probing shots into the circle from far out, in an attempt to split the defence.

King's took the lead early in the second spell through Nick Dalziel after Josh Quinn drew James Bishop off his line, allowing Dalziel to slot the ball in the corner.

Jarred Hewitt levelled the scores with 10 minutes to play, sneaking the ball under Patel's pads, much to the disgust of the King's defence.

In the shoot out - Matt Greene and Cole Rudolph converted their shots, while Jeremy Morris had his shot saved.

For King's, Rory McLean and James Nation converted their shots, while Tom Undie's shot went wide and Josh Quinn's was saved by Bishop - this meant that when James McKibbon slotted City's fifth, there was no coming back for King's.

City now plays University A on Wednesday night to decide who will face Albany A in the final next Saturday after Albany came back from a disappointing loss last week to beat University 4-3.

In the bottom-of-the-table decider, University B beat the Tuataras 3-2 to bring to a close what has been a season to forget for the new team in the premier grade.

Meanwhile, City Highlanders A beat St Hilda's 2-1 in the minor semifinal in the premier women's competition at the weekend. City Highlanders now plays University, the loser of the major semifinal, in the lifeline game on Wednesday evening with the winner playing Taieri in the final next Saturday.

The minor semifinal began at a fast and furious pace.

St Hilda's was exerting great pressure down the right flank.

A sudden change of play and City nearly grabbed a deflection goal but the schoolgirls showed again that they were the masters of defence.

City then struck a sudden shot from the top of the circle that was well saved by talented goalie Ginny Wilson and the game remained scoreless at halftime.

After the break, the schoolgirls began to play a flowing game through their left side and looked the fitter of the teams.

They won a penalty corner and the set move was perfectly executed with a strike tipped in for a classic right-post goal.

This put some aggression into the City attackers who began to steal the ball and run with it.

A reverse stick shot from Alex Irwin for a brilliant individual goal put City on the scorecard.

The game gained even more pace and was looking as if it would go to a shoot out, as there had to be a result.

However, a team effort led to a second Irwin goal after a beautiful move in the circle.

Kate Kernahan tried hard to reply with a reverse stick shot which was so hard it took the City goalie's glove off.

But it was too little too late and City went in with a well-deserved win.

Good play by left half Emma Spratt and the St Hilda's midfield in general ensured it was a hard-fought game and exciting to watch.

In other games: Taieri beat University Women 3-0 in the main semifinal for direct entry into the final and Momona A beat Momona B 5-3 in the 5th and 6th play-off.