Abby Rankin. PHOTO: LINDA ROBERTSON Abby Rankin scored a hat-trick to lead the Dunedin City Royals into the second round of the Kate Sheppard Cup with an 11-0 win over Thistle Invercargill on Saturday. Rose Morton and Nieve Collins each scored twice for the Royals. Thistle’s defensive structure was sound but the Royals dominated possession and showed patience with the ball. A standout player for the Royals was Madi McLean, who put in a big shift and had her strongest performance for the team to date. Queens Park progressed with a 6-0 win over Grants Braes. Shelby Bryan opening the scoring in the 12th minute, Tyler Andrews and Rebecca Walker both scored second-half braces. Tianna Areaiiti-Newlove made an impact off the bench when scoring a goal within five minutes. Green Island put up a dogged defence to frustrate University. It was 0-0 at fulltime but the extra 30 minutes allowed the students time to breach the resolute home defence and win 5-0. Roslyn-Wakari ensured all four of the top women’s teams progressed into the second round with a 4-0 win over Northern. Jemma Wilson scored a quickfire brace to give Roslyn a 2-0 lead after 19 minutes. Amelie East-Giles made it 3-0 just before halftime and Holly White scored in injury time. — In the Chatham Cup, there were big victories for Northern and Mosgiel over Invercargill sides. Northern thumped Waihopai 12-0 with Rory Hibbert scoring five goals in the first half as Northern grabbed an 8-0 lead at the break. Mosgiel romped to a 15-0 victory away at Thistle, where a strong second half featured 10 goals. Rhys Quarrell claimed five and George Duncan got a late hat-trick. There was also a hat-trick at Ellis Park. Roslyn-Wakari opened the scoring against Queenstown through Nathan Wilkie on 19 minutes, and Callum Smith scored in the 69th and 80th minutes to give Roslyn a 3-0 lead. Queenstown’s Donald Greengrass reduced the deficit with six minutes to go before Smith’s third goal in injury time secured a 4-1 win for Roslyn. Northern Hearts had to be patient as they were held 0-0 at halftime by Grants Braes. Their superior fitness ultimately told as five unanswered goals — two to Bailey Chambers — gave them safe passage into the next round. Wanaka also took some time to get through their game against West End. A Paul Rodwell penalty goal three minutes into first-half stoppage time gave Wanaka the lead at the break. West End’s Callum Thomson scored an own goal midway through the second half before late goals to Allan Carmichael and Daniel Brum gave Wanaka a 4-1 win. Geraldine nearly caused an upset when they took University to extra time despite playing the second half with only 10 men after Ferdinand Ivo Vasqueto was shown his second yellow card. The students took the lead through Sam Clegg after only three minutes, but Geraldine equalised 10 minutes before the break through Reuben Nacho Gonzalez. University struggled to break down the stubborn home defence, and it took until the second half of extra time for the students to break through when Clegg claimed his hat-trick with a quickfire brace to secure a hard-fought 3-1 victory on the road. Green Island gained revenge over Queens Park for last week’s league loss against the same opponents with a scrappy 1-0 win at Sunnyvale. Queens Park had the best opportunity in the first half when Michael Larsen’s shot deflected off keeper Owen Dabkowski but was cleared off the line. Both teams were guilty of turning over possession frequently in very chilly conditions. Green Island nearly took the lead right on halftime when the ball rolled across an open goal but Josh Kotkamp was unable to tap it in from close range. Dabkowski was forced into pulling off a flying save as Queens Park applied early second-half pressure, but the home side claimed victory when the ball came to Spencer Smith on the right side of goal, and he drilled the ball low and hard into the opposite corner in the 67th minute. — Neville Watson
