On Sunday 13th August, the 1st XI played 2016 Rankin Cup winners, St Paul’s Collegiate in Hamilton. Despite an even start, Westlake were caught napping on penalty corner defence, allowing St Paul’s to open the scoring with a right-post deflection. However, Westlake countered hard against a second St Paul’s PC and Tom Roycroft controlled and finished a rebound to level the scores. In the second half, both sides looked evenly matched. Unfortunately, an untidy clearance and foul in the circle gifted St Paul’s a PC with four minutes to play. They duly converted from a left-post deflection and held on to take the win 1-2.
On Monday 14th August, the 1st XI played the NZ Black Sticks U-23 Women at Westlake Girls High School. The match started with predictable pace from the women, but the Westlake defence did well to absorb their speed and skill. The boys started to control the pace of the match from the back. They opened the scoring when Ryan Quinn fired a long ball to Jarryd Russell leading into the right pocket, who in turn found Charl Ulrich, who finished well. In the second quarter, a quick break down the left was again finished off by Ulrich, and Tom Roycroft picked up his second rebound goal in as many days to make the score 3-0. In the second half, the Black Sticks pressed harder and dominated the third quarter, eventually scoring from a PC. However, the boys fought back and managed to convert their own PC at the end of the quarter. 4-1 was the final score, in Westlake’s favour.