19/07/2024
Timaru United U14 girls tournament team was selected from clubs all around the South Canterbury region. Although the girls didn't finish as high as they had hoped the quality of play and effort on show was fantastic. It was great seeing the team and group grow, develop and improve over the course of the tournament. We were so grateful to all of our sponsors
Nick Fenn Forsyth Barr Investment Adviser
Vetlife New Zealand
Makikihi Fries
The Point Butcher
The Big O Oamaru
Temuka Family Practice
Tournament Report
Well that was a roller coaster of a tournament...Thanks to all who helped organize and traveled up to support the team. Just thought I would do a summary of the trip. I'll start with some stats. Having spoken to Roz I know I'm not the only one who is interested in this stuff :)
7 games played. 4 win. 1 draw. 2 loss
We scored 25. We let in just 3. (best in our pool and second best out of all 13 teams)
Top Goalscorers: Charlotte 6, Addison 6, Ana 4, Aaleaha 4, Emily 3, Rio 1, Sammy 1, Lily 1
Top Assists: Charlotte 6, Ana 5, Addison 3, Aaleaha 2, Emily 1, Rio 1, Ida 1
We let in zero goals for the last 5 games of our tournament.
Rachael and Maurissa played every minute. 5 hours and 50 minutes.
MVP Award - Judged by the other coaches. Charlotte.
Day One
lets not talk too much about day one, 2 losses out of 2 and no goals scored. 0-2 and 0-1 losses. We were the better team in both matches but a couple of bobbing bounces in our goal box meant we conceded the odd goal. No mistakes from our goalie or defense. The midfield created many chances but most shots ended up going straight at the goalkeeper or just lacked direction and power. Tiredness from some players showed in these two games. Excitement and lack of sleep.
Day Two
Due to the slow start, the chance of winning the whole thing was pretty much taken away from us after the first day...or so we thought. Due to an unexpected result early on day two by other teams we had a chance to squeeze into the top half of the draw. We just needed to win by 3 against Cash Tech. We had already won 11-0 in our early game on day two, so shooting boots had clearly been put on today, with Ana and Charlotte getting 3 each whilst Addison managed 4. Sammy even slotted home a penalty.
Unfortunately, even after throwing every attacking player in the key game, we just could not score. The ball hardly went into our own half. A 0-0 draw meant we would be put into the lower half of the rankings no matter how well we did from now on. This was heartbreaking for several of the team and tears did flow.
The 3rd game of the day was the quarter final against Green Island. an easy 6-0 win. Charlotte and Emily with 2 and Rio and Aaleaha getting one. Team spirit was still high though with the girls enjoying watching our 18th grade team when they could. Pressure was now off and easier games were coming our way.
Day Three
A 7-0 win to start the day with Aaleaha scoring 3. Lily scored to a huge roar. Addison with 2 and Emily getting 1. With the one sided games we managed to get Maurissa out of goal and up front to stretch the legs. Both Rio and Addison had stints in goal and both had to make one save each during the few minutes they were in goal to even bigger cheers. The girls were having fun now. The finaly match was against the team that beat us 1-0 on the first day (SUFC). We knew we were the better team and Charlotte wasted no time scoring early. Revenge was taken with Ana adding to the score before we closed up shop and stopped them even getting close to our goal. Anohter game with Rachael and Maurissa being bored at the back...2-0 win. A great way to finish.
