Uni A Huskies kept in touch with the top four teams by getting a grinding 4-0 win over Kings United in the premier women's competition on Saturday.
As the playoffs fast approach, the battle for better seeding is heating up.
With the University holidays only just finishing and the Southern under-18 teams heading away to tournament, all the sides were struggling a little for numbers. Uni went into this game with just 10 players and while Kings had a bench, it was noticeably using some reserve grade players.
These new combinations were quite evident in the first half, as neither team could really get going and settle into a pattern.
Despite being a player down, Uni managed to build more control in the middle of the field and, after a skilful baseline drive by Hannah Mason, her back pass found Hannah O'Stick and she calmly put the ball away to give Uni the lead.
This seemed to spur the Huskies on, as they had four or five chances in the next few minutes, including putting a ball in the goal, but it was ruled to have come off the back of the striker's stick.
Kings' young players struggled to get out of their own end but they defended well when Uni was on attack; Jade Cottle and Susan White stopped many of its efforts. It took until just five minutes to go in the half when Helena Snell doubled the lead.
The second half continued in the same vein: while Uni was on top for most of the time, it had trouble converting this pressure into goals.
It got a couple more in the second half from penalty corners through Molly Sheffield and Millie Baker for a final score of 4-0.
In other results, City beat Taieri 5-1 and Momona defeated Uni B 8-0. The Southland-Southern game was deferred due to under-18 national tournament.
-By Matthew West
