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NZ U18s
Seniors Take Trophy, But Under-18s Take Plaudits
by Jeremy Ruane
The New Zealand Senior Regional Selection recorded a 5-0 victory over their Under-18 counterparts in the final of the quadrangular International Women’s Soccer Tournament at Bill McKinlay Park on September 21, but it is the younger side whose efforts earned the plaudits of the 450-strong crowd.
Their gritty, determined display denied their senior rivals any peace, particularly in the first spell, and National Coach, Sandy Davie, quite rightly tore a strip off his charges at half-time, as the younger side’s performance, to this point, did not merit their turning round a goal behind.
The goal came in the 27th minute, a Nicky Smith corner to the far post which the Senior’s skipper, Melissa Ruscoe, rifled into the roof of the net on the stretch.
It was the right sort of example for Ruscoe to set for her colleagues, as in the eighth minute, she had shown anything but the standards expected of a twenty-three times-capped New Zealand international.
Throughout the week, Ruscoe’s defensive performances had leaned more towards the casual than the fully committed. So when Amber Hearn showed her up by catching Ruscoe in possession with just Stephanie Puckrin standing between the striker and the goal some thirty-five yards away, there was a buzz of excitement amongst the crowd, whose loyalties were leaning the way of the underdogs.
Ruscoe recovered to make a timely tackle, but the incident set the tone for the spectacle.
The Senior side created the first scoring chance of the match in the tenth minute. Sara Clapham and Smith played a one-two which resulted in the former releasing the well-again Amanda Crawford. She beat an opponent before crossing to the far post, where Stephanie White was on hand to shoot straight at Wendy Horneman.
Maia Jackman twice had chances to put the Seniors in front in the 21st and 24th minutes, but while she wasn’t close enough to snaffle the rebound following Horneman’s parrying a Wendi Henderson twenty-five yarder, the speedster’s attempt to punish the goalkeeper’s blunder following pressure from Smith was, in a word, woeful - picture a seriously bad golf slice ...!!
Just before Ruscoe’s goal, Puckrin was called into action, as the Under-18s staked their claims for what would have been a richly deserved goal. Nikki Wenzlick’s free-kick into the goalmouth was plucked off the head of Hearn by the goalkeeper, whose subsequent clearance sparked the attack from which the Seniors struck the game’s opening goal.
Two minutes after breaking the deadlock, Horneman bravely saved at the feet of the Player of the Tournament, the ultra-consistent Rachel Oliver, after Smith and Crawford had combined to send the left-sided midfielder scampering through towards goal.
Nine minutes before the break, Crawford and Jackman teamed up, the latter supplying Smith with a shooting chance. Melissa Ray, who did an outstanding marking job on the lively striker all evening, closed Smith down, but Jackman, following up, let fly with a twenty-five yard grasscutter which Horneman smothered next to her right-hand post.
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The second spell saw the after-effects of Davie’s dressing-down of the Senior side straight from the kick-off. After Crawford sent a header bulleting past the near post following an Oliver corner, the striker absolutely hammered home an unerring volley from ten yards in the 49th minute, after Smith’s battling efforts had created the opening. Horneman stood not a prayer of saving it!
The Seniors kept pressing, Jackman heading a Smith corner over the angle in the 53rd minute, while in the 64th minute, the doggedness of substitute Michele Keinzley paid off, as the ball spilled loose for Smith in the penalty area. She pulled the sphere back for Crawford, whose drive smashed against the base of the far post, and cannoned back past the incoming Jackman to safety.
Two minutes later, a Wenzlick free-kick caused the Seniors all sorts of problems, Nicola Morrison mistiming her attempt to head clear. Puckrin advanced off her line, but was beaten in the air by Emily McColl, who couldn’t believe her ill-fortune as the ball cleared the crossbar by inches.
Keinzley twice had chances to extend the Seniors’ advantage in the next two minutes, Horneman saving her first effort, then watching with relief as Ray got back to clear after the striker had rounded the goalkeeper.
In the 72nd minute, the Seniors scored their third goal, although referee Linda Ritchie got the free-kick which resulted in the change in scoreline completely wrong. Henderson had committed the foul on her opponent, but the referee ruled in favour of the Senior side, and Crawford’s set-piece was met by Smith’s darting run to the near post, the striker netting with a delightful glancing header.
After Jackman and Smith had combined to create a chance for Keinzley which Horneman turned round the post, the score increased once more, eleven minutes from time.
Smith’s corner picked out Jackman, whose shot was blocked. Ruscoe was in close attendance, along with a cluster of black-shirted Under-18s players, one of whom was adjudged to have handled the bouncing ball by referee Ritchie. Horneman got her hands to Ruscoe’s penalty, but couldn’t keep it out.
Three minutes later, Henderson’s charging run had the Under-18s defence in two minds, and their hesitance was punished by Smith, who homed in on goal before finishing clinically from close range to clinch the Top Goalscorer of the Tournament trophy, and round off a 5-0 victory for the Seniors, on a night when their youthful opponents, whose Player of the Tournament was Rachel Doody, did themselves proud.
NZ Seniors: Puckrin; Humby (Simpson, 79), Ruscoe, Morrison; Jackman, White (Jarden, 32), (Carlisle, 82), Henderson, Clapham (Keinzley, 46), Oliver; Crawford, Smith (booked, 26) (Gooch, 82)
NZ Under-18s: Horneman; Wenzlick, Doody, Ray; Humphries (Thompson, 40), Duncan, Bullen (Rowney, 55), Moorwood, Meo; McColl (Hunter, 72), Hearn
Referee: Linda Ritchie
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