Westlake Boys Take Treble Hockey Titles

The depth of the Westlake Boys hockey programme shone at its brightest on Wednesday night when Westlake 1st XI, 2nd XI and 3rd XI each won their championship finals. Westlake’s first team beat last year’s winners King’s College 3-2 in the Supercity Tier 1 Final, the seconds won against Sacred Heart College 1st XI in the the Supercity Tier 2 Final and the undefeated thirds won their Harbour 1A Final against Mahurangi College 1st XI.

WBHS 1st XI v Kings College 1st XI

For the second year in a row, the 2015 Auckland Supercity Hockey final proved to be a true ‘clash of the titans’ between Westlake Boys High School and King’s College. Having started in 2013 as a league based event, The Auckland Supercity competition title was evenly shared. Westlake were crowned Champions in 2013 however, as the format evolved, King’s took the title off Westlake last year.

The two teams met twice earlier this season, with the results being shared. In the round robin play, King’s College defeated Westlake Boys High School 1-0; however, at a Quadrangular tournament in Tauranga, Westlake turned the result, winning 4-1.

For the 2015 final both teams were determined to finish the regular season on a positive note and King’s started well managing to grab two penalty corners early but both were saved by the Westlake goalkeeper. This shook Westlake into action and the team started to dominate play creating some opportunities which were only prevented by King’s good goalkeeping and last ditch challenges.  With the score still level, a quick tackle then pass by Netesh Sukha allowed Jord Glandorf to calmly put Westlake one goal ahead.

With the score 1-0 to Westlake, King’s stepped up the pace and controlled the game which resulted in them leveling the score.  It wasn’t until the last 10 minutes in the match that Westlake scored again with Keegan Russell and Benji Edwards adding a goal each to Westlake’s tally.  Westlake kept a strong structure and only in the last 10 seconds did they lose concentration.  King’s was awarded a penalty corner and scored after the final whistle (which is allowed in hockey), taking the final score to 3-2 to Westlake. A fair result after a good game by both teams.

The after match presentations were made to both teams by special guest, longserving staff member and hockey coach Phil Tisdall, who has been a Westlake Boys Hockey stalwart for many years. Phil will retire at the end of this school year and yesterday’s finals booklet included an article to honour his many years of service and dedication to Westlake Hockey – see article below.

Congratulations to all players and coaches Steve McCracken and Charlie Meredith as well as manager, Westlaker Warren Wild. The team will now travel to Nationals and have set their sights on returning with the Rankin Cup.

More pictures of the final match below.

WBHS 2nd XI v Sacred Heart 1st XI
The 2nd XI travelled to Lloyd Elsmore Park to play Sacred Heart 1st XI in the Supercity Tier 2 final match. Sacred Heart were favourites to take the win with a large group of supporters on the side lines. The match was physical and played with high intensity and pace and when Westlake made a mistake in the second minute, the conceding PC was converted by Sacred Heart. Westlake were awarded a PC in the 17th minute and Alesh Sukha managed to score to level the score. There were several more opportunities for both teams in the first half but both keepers pulled off some amazing saves. Half time score 1-1.

The second half started at the same pace and intensity with Sacred Heart on top. They were awarded several PC’s which Westlake managed to keep out but with mounting pressure and another PC awarded, Sacred Heart eventually managed to score again after several Westlake saves. Westlake kept fighting and slowly started to dominate the last quarter of the game. A good transfer ball and some quick passing eventually gave Thomas Patrick the chance to score taking the end result to two goals each and into a penalty shoot-out.

The shoot-out is one player versus the keeper, taken from the 23 line with 8 seconds to score. Sacred Heart opened the score followed by Westlake’s Dylan Carlyle, who, after an initial error, recovered and scored – score 1-1. Sacred Heart took the second which was saved. They were awarded to take it again but keeper Calum Grassick saved it the second time as well. Westlake took their second which was also saved – score still 1-1. Sacred took their third and again Calum pulled off a save. Ryan Quinn stepped up and converted Westlake’s third attempt – score (1-2). Sacred took their fourth and again Calum pulled off a fantastic save. Cam Jones-Moore stepped up and scored Westlake’s fourth attempt to take the win 3-1. Congratulations to the team and coach Kevin Jacobs and manager Sharon Young.

WBHS 3rd XI v Mahurangi College 1st XI
Westlake 3rd XI went into their North Harbour 1a hockey final undefeated, scoring 67 goals and only conceding 9 on the way.  Having beaten Mahurangi 1st XI 3-1 earlier in the season, Westlake were technically the ‘favourites’, but the Northern-most team in the competition were certainly wanting the North Harbour Championship to go their way.

Westlake started very strong, testing the talented Mahu keeper early on before forcing an error resulting in a penalty stroke. Kieran Reid took the pressure shot calmly, slotting the ball low and hard. The half then ebbed and flowed with both teams gaining and conceding penalty corners before Mahurangi eventually drew level from a well-executed move. This reinstated the Mahu belief and Westlake were put under the pump for the remainder of the half before a break-away run down the left by Ryan Dawson ended in a calm finish under the keeper to end the half 2-1 up.

A strong, inspirational team talk at half time from coach Westlaker Nathan Fouhy, brought the 3rd XI back onto the park to play with the same vigour as the start of the game. Before long a dazzling run out of the defence from left back Nishaan Patel saw him dribble and jink the ball up the left wing beating six opposition players on the way into the D before setting up striker Chris Lawrence who flicked the ball into the roof of the net with great composure to end a remarkable move. This only served to shake the Mahurangi hornet’s nest and they came forward with wave after wave of attack which the Westlake defence dealt with handsomely until a fortunate deflection saw Mahu pull a goal back with nine minutes to go.

Nerves were now fraying on both benches with great finals-style end-to-end hockey entertaining the crowd. Belief was strong in the Westlake camp however, and in the dying seconds of the game Ryan Dawson assured victory with a strong shot finding the back of the net. The 4-2 win for Westlake 3rd XI ended a remarkable season for a very close-knit team, with a deserved send-off to the four 7th Form stalwarts who have served the team so well over the years. Congratulations all the players and coaches Dr Ian Burnett and Nathan Fouhy.

Phil Tisdall
Longserving staff member Phil Tisdall arrived at Westlake Boys in 1978 which was the start of a long and fruitful history with Westlake hockey.

A talented and keen hockey player himself, Phil took on the role of coach of the 1st XI in his first year at school, taking over the reins from Martin Gillion. For nine years Phil coached the 1st XI, travelling from Papatoetoe to Rodney College, from Henderson to Howick, bagging one Auckland title and many other high placed competition finishes along the way. He briefly relinquished his duties to Bruce Tong and then took up the coaching job once again, assisting Jeff Hall for a further three years, enjoying even more successes.

While coaching the 1st XI Hockey team, Phil was also the Master in Charge of the entire hockey programme. This was in the days when matches were played on grass turf – often ruined by thoughtless rugby and   football teams, training on it without permission.  In winter Phil remembers that, being too wet for the   mower, the field had to be cut by hand motor mowers. During his time as 1st XI coach there were three years when Phil felt that his team was not getting the required level of competition to improve their standard. To give them more game time and exposure he also entered them into a men’s competition on a Saturday afternoon. Many a time the players, splattered in mud from their school match, had to race to the club game.

These were the days that the New Zealand Secondary Schools Tournament was by invitation only and very much depended on hosting and running the tournament. Westlake would join up with other local schools to run the national tournament. As if he wasn’t busy enough already, Phil was also on the Auckland Secondary Schools Hockey Committee where he helped out with the running of the hockey programme in Auckland. He also served on the New Zealand Secondary School tournament committee and at the same time kept up his own participation in hockey as Takapuna Hockey Club Captain and later Chairman.

When the North Harbour Association was formed in the 1990’s Phil was still in charge and it was no surprise then that Westlake was the first team to play on the new North Harbour turf, playing the week before it officially opened.

After such long and dedicated service, many would have happily allowed younger teachers to take over completely, but not Phil. He took the 2nd XI for a number of years as well as many social teams who enjoyed his ability to impart skills and enthusiasm for the game. Louis Borok vividly recalls the time he watched Phil standing at Rosedale Park number 4, in the pouring rain on what surely was the coldest and bleakest turf on earth. Not once did Phil complain.

It was only when the travel distances made it too difficult for Phil to continue his involvement that he finally decided he could no longer take a Westlake Hockey team. Even though the game and playing   conditions in those days were totally different, Phil’s dedication and commitment created a legacy that has become the healthy culture that ensures Westlake Hockey’s continuing success today.

Phil’s teams over the years:
1978-86 1st XI – 1984 winners Olympic Stick Tournament; 1985 Auckland Champions and winners of the Indian Shield Tournament; 1987-88 2nd XI; 1989-U15; 1990-2nd XI; 1994-95-U15; 1996-2nd XI – North Harbour Turf; 1997-3rd form team; 1998-1st XI; 1999-2nd XI; 2000-4th XI; 2001-02-1st XI; 2003-04-3rd form team; 2005-08-4th XI; 2009-Sen Social and 2010-12-Senior 1

Other Hockey results

 « prev      1   2   3   4   5   6   ...  16      next »  
(63 Photos)