The University Huskies built on a solid start to beat Kings United 4-2 in the Dunedin premier women’s competition game on Saturday.
The Huskies were fast out of the gate and looked to apply real pressure to the Kings defence.
While they took time to find their sharpness in the attacking zone, and found themselves on the receiving end of some dynamic play from Kings, the Huskies soon built a lead.
Some untidy play in the Kings defensive circle led to a penalty stroke, and Georgia Hall stepped up to fire the students into the lead.
Rose Parkinson then scored off a beautiful reverse after having her first goal disallowed.
The onslaught continued as some prime positioning from Iso Ng on the post led to another goal for the Huskies, who held on for a 4-2 win.
Momona beat the Taieri Tigers on penalties in the second game.
Momona went up 1-0 through some nice team play, finished off by Sophie Williamson on the post.
A lapse in concentration in deep defence then helped the Tigers get an equaliser.
That pattern continued as Momona would score and Taieri would come back with an equaliser shortly after.
The game finished at 3-3, meaning it would be decided on a shootout, and a cheeky dink up and over goalie Hannah Lithgow by Tessa Buschl sealed the deal for Momona.
In the final game of the day, the City Highlanders were favoured to comfortably defend the Challenge Shield against the University Stingrays, but the game was closer than expected.
The Stingrays showed great promise for the season ahead by holding the defending champions to 3-0.
In the men’s competition, the University Whales travelled to Oamaru to take on Tainui.
The Whales looked like they had the win in the bag after putting themselves in front 3-0.
Tainui tried its best to spoil the party, coming back to score two goals in the last two minutes, but could not find an equaliser.
The Taieri Tuataras had another dominant performance, beating the University Panthers 10-1.
Kings beat the Albany Alligators 1-0 in the final men’s game.
Neither team managed to really dominate possession, but through a sequence of smooth play, Kings was able to find the crucial goal.
Although it had plenty of opportunities, Kings could not add to its tally as Felix McIntosh made some outstanding saves.
Kings was down three men at one point due to a string of cards, yet managed to keep the Alligators scoreless.
- Grace Milne