Nine St Paul’s Collegiate School students, past and present, were chosen to represent Waikato futsal teams at the NZ Youth Futsal championships over the weekend.
The tournament, which welcomed 60 teams at Central Energy Trust Arena in Palmerston North, is a key event for NZ Futsal’s player development pathway with Futsal Whites captain Marvin Eakins is on site scouting for talent.
Representative selected were:
- Emi Ng – under-19 girls (current student)
- Harry Porritt – under-19 boys (current student)
- Sam Masterson – under-19 boys (Old Collegian)
- Luke Goodwin – under-19 boys (Old Collegian)
- Thomas Goodwin – under-19 boys (Old Collegian)
- Hamish Comber – under-19 boys (Old Collegian)
- Waikato Ball – under-19 boys (Old Collegian)
- Daniel Goodwin – under-19 boys development coach (Old Collegian).
The Waikato teams performed well against their rivals with top placings.
Waikato under-19 development came first in their pool. The team then battled Waikato under-19 in the quarter finals which was a hard fought match. Waikato under-19 took out the win 3-1.
Waikato under-19 then went on to play Mainland for a third or fourth position, winning the match 7-2. This placed the Waikato team third overall.
Waikato girls’ under-19 were not so lucky. Due to a plane being delayed and then cancelled at Auckland airport, the Waikato under-19 girls’ team were short of a goal keeper. The team won two games, lost four and drew two; an outstanding effort for a team with no goalie.
Luke Goodwin (Old Collegian) was awarded top goal scorer for Waikato under-19 and Waikato Ball (Old Collegian) was named under-19 MVP of the tournament.
