Canterbury stunned Auckland 3-2 in a women's boilover result to highlight the third round of the national hockey league in Auckland on Saturday.
In a clash of two unbeaten teams early goals to Olivia Merry and Rachel McCann were important as Canterbury carried that lead into the second half.
A penalty corner goal to Auckland's Honor Carter was matched almost immediately by Canterbury's Sophie Cocks as they held on to win despite conceding a late goal to Australian Kate Hollywood.
In other matches, all in Auckland, Midlands women were spurred into action by the return of their Olympians as they overpowered Capital in the second half to win 4-0. Both Cat Finlayson and Clarissa Eshuis were in goalscoring form.
Central had a comfortable 3-0 win over Northland, and North Harbour beat Southern 2-1.
In the men's feature match of the day, Capital showed good composure in the second spell to come from behind and beat Midlands 5-3.
Elsewhere, North Harbour's Joseph Bartholomew slotted in two late penalty corner goals to give his side a 2-0 victory over Central, Canterbury comfortably beat Northland 6-1, and Auckland knocked over Southern 2-1.
The league runs through the week and concludes on Sunday.
Third round results:
Women:
Central 3 (Merania Hibbard, Kristy Anderson, Georgie Blackwood) Northland 0 HT: 2-0.
Midlands 4 (Cat Finlayson, Shannon Cochrane, Clarissa Eshuis, Kim Tanner) Capital 0 HT:0-0
Canterbury 3 (Olivia Merry, Rachel McCann, Sophie Cocks) Auckland 2 (Honor Carter, Kate Hollywood) HT: 2-0.
North Harbour 2 (Hannah Duley, Erin Goad) Southern 1 (Sofie McLeod) HT: 1-1
Men:
Capital 5 (Jacob Smith 2, Tim Gyles, Scott Barnett, Jared Jones) Midlands 3 (Lincoln Churchill 2, Hoete Mitai Ngatai) HT: 3-2 Midlands.
North Harbour 2 (Joseph Bartholomew 2) Central 0 HT: 0-0
Canterbury 6 (Isaac Staples 2, Ryan Cocking, Trent Summers, Mohammad Ali Rahmann, Mitch Hayde) Northland 1 (Sam Webb) HT:2-1.
Auckland 2 (Rob Creffier, Alex Shaw) Southern 1 (Kane Russell) HT: 2-1
NZN
