The Albany Alligators found themselves in an unfamiliar position as the University Whales went the distance in the Dunedin premier men’s competition on Saturday.
The Whales nearly knocked off the Alligators, who are sitting second on the points table, and a 1-1 scoreline told the tale of what could have been.
The Whales came out ready and firing to take on the Alligators with nothing to lose.
Both teams rose to the occasion. Eshaan Patel scored the Whales’ goal, but the Alligators claimed the extra point for the shootout win.
The Kings United men beat Tainui 7-1 in Oamaru.
Tainui started the game strongly on home turf, catching the visiting side off guard with some early pressure in the attacking circle, but Kings converted two penalty corners to finish the first quarter ahead 2-0.
Tainui had a stroke awarded from a breakdown in play during an attacking penalty corner.
Jacob Smith stepped up and converted for the home side.
Despite its best efforts, Tainui could not pull the game back.
An unfortunate injury to the home goalkeeper in the fourth quarter left Tainui with an empty net, Kings capitalising to blow out the score.
The Taieri Tuataras put on a scoring clinic to demolish the University Panthers 10-0.
Matthew West and Oliver Battrick each found the back of the net three times. James Nicolson, Patrick Ward, Hamish Church and Jarrod Casey added their names to the scoresheet.
In the women’s competition, the Taieri Tigers showed some of their good form in the challenge shield match but the City Highlanders held on for a 3-2 win.
Coming out firing, as they did against Momona a week prior, the Tigers got on the scoreboard first through Sarah Jennings.
Things were looking promising for the Tigers as they remained solid in defence, holding the Highlanders out for the first quarter.
True to form, the Highlanders came charging back. Morgan Forrester, Annabelle Schneideman and Fenella Ballantyne scored to make it 3-1.
Chantelle Murrell found the back of the net for the Tigers but the Highlanders locked things down.
The Kings United women were hoping to get out of their slump but fell to a 2-0 loss to the University Huskies.
Holly Riddick and Margy Hazelhurst scored for the Huskies. The Kings women fought hard to get back into the game but could not break through the Huskies defence.
Momona found its rhythm late against the University Stingrays, winning 3-1.
Sarah Johnstone found herself in the right place at the right time to score twice for Momona. Things were looking a bit dicey for Momona after a quick counterattack from the Stingrays had levelled the scores at 1-1 after Abby Draper got the ball past the keeper.
The pressure from the Stingrays did not last long as Momona found its groove and scored twice more. Neve McLean scored Momona’s final goal.
— Grace Milne