The Hillsdene Tournament ran for three days (14th – 16th June) in Tauranga. The competition consisting of two pools of six teams.
Game 1 began at 9:30am on Sunday 14th June against Bethlehem.
The game was evenly balanced through the first half with both teams unable to convert opportunities. 0-0 at half time. The closeness of the game, meant that the first team to score would win. Bethlehem scored and this lifted their confidence. They then got a couple of soft goals as we committed players forward to try to equalize. Final score 3-0 loss.
Game 2 began at 12:00am on Sunday 14th June against Rotorua Boys high School
Our boys dominated from the kick off. Skilful play and learning from our mistakes from the previous game, saw us score goals at will. Final score 13-0 with 6 to George, 3 for Jansen, Patrick 2, Connor 1 and Jasom 1.
Game 3: Monday at 10am against Hastings Boys High School.
Again another balanced game with both teams evenly matched. The Hasting’s Boys were physically aggressive at both ends of the field. Our goalkeeper receive a knock requiring time off to recover. The intensity of the game resulted in penalties given to both teams. The half time score 1-1. Again it was going to be a case of the team to score first in the second half would probably go on the win. Hastings came out stronger. Our boys were always competitive, but the more aggressive play by Hastings and the resulting injuries to our players, saw us go down 3-1 at the final whistle.
Game 4: Monday at 1pm against Kapiti College.
After recovering from the previous game, our boys started strongly against Kapiti. With goals to Owen Comber and George Ott we lead 2-0 early in the first half. The opposition then rallied and the teams went to half time at 2-2. In the second half, Kapiti used impact players well from the bench and our boys started to fatigue. Final score a loss 5-2.
Game 5: Monday 4pm against St. Peter’s College (Auckland)
St. Peter’s had arrived at the tournament with year 11 players, so defaulted all of their games. Thus a friendly game was played. The bigger and faster St. Peter’s players scored a number of goals, but to our credit, George Ott made a break and drove a powerful shot into the St. Peter’s net to lift the moral of the team.
We finished 4th in our Pool and with drawn to play Tauranga Boys High (who finished 3rd in their Pool). Our boy’s played well and have the better of the Tauranga Boy’s at times but we were unable to convert our opportunities into goals. A couple of defensive mistake gain Tauranga the lead 2-0 at half time. We decided to take a risk of pulling players forward in search for a goal, which left us vulnerable at the back. Tauranga took advantage of this opportunity resulting in us going down 4-0.
Final game was a play off for 7th and 8th position against Bethlehem. The boys were determined to get their revenge on losing to Bethlehem at the beginning of the tournament. The Boy’s lifted their game and played with energy and controlled the game throughout the match. George scored 1 and Owen scored 2 goals, resulting in a win 3-1 to finish 7th in the tournament.
