Otago warmed up for the national championship with some promising performances at an annual tournament in Christchurch at the weekend.
Both the men and the women got a vital opportunity to see competitive action at the Otautahi Cup.
The Otago women opened with a solid 3-1 win over Wellington.
Wellington grabbed a 1-0 lead right at the end of the second quarter.
But the rest of the game belonged to Otago.
Sorell Shand scored from a penalty corner to make it 1-1 at the start of the third quarter, and Louisa Kotkamp gave Otago a 2-1 lead with a field goal 11 minutes later.
Kotkamp then iced victory with her team’s third goal five minutes before the final whistle.
Otago later fought hard before being beaten 2-1 by the Canterbury Barracudas.
It was 0-0 at halftime, but the Barracudas scored either side of the three-quarter break.
Nina Murphy got Otago back in the contest with a late field goal before time ran out.
The Otago women finished their weekend with a 3-0 loss to the Canterbury Cats yesterday.
On the men’s side, Otago started with a 0-0 draw with Wellington followed by a 4-2 loss in the shootout.
They then showed real ticker to come from behind and beat the Canterbury Beavers 4-3 in a thriller.
After Daniel Torr gave Otago the lead after just five minutes, the home side scored three goals in the space of 12 minutes to seemingly take control of the game.
But Torr scored his second to make it 3-2 and completed his hat-trick early in the fourth quarter to tie the game up and set the scene for a dramatic finish.
Judd Adamson was the hero for Otago as he converted a game-winning penalty corner in the 53rd minute.
Reality struck yesterday for the Otago men though as they struck a red-hot Canterbury Cavaliers team and fell to an 8-0 loss.
The national championship is in Christchurch from September 14-20.
