There were mixed results for Mid Canterbury’s secondary school sports teams around the country yesterday as the national secondary schools’ tournament week kicked off.

Down in the deep south in Invercargill, a Nick Eden hat-trick helped the Ashburton College boys’ first XI football team get off to a perfect start at their Linwood Tournament.

They took on Verdon College and won 6-0, with Eden scoring three goals, Ben Holland scoring two, and Keegan Gentle adding the other.

But in their second game they took on Massey and things didn’t go so well.

They lost 4-0 and coach Mike Pearce said they were simply outplayed on the day by a stronger team.

In Timaru at the Johnson Cup hockey tournament, Ashburton College’s boys’ first XI took on Cashmere yesterday morning and went down 2-0.

But it was a close match, with Cashmere only scoring their second goal with a couple of minutes left on the clock.

Team manager Jason Vannini said Cashmere simply had more possession and his side’s goalie saved a number of shots.

“We had a few on target, but not enough territory in the game,” Vannini said.

In Invercargill at the Audrey Timlin Memorial Tournament, the Ashburton College girls’ hockey first XI were a bit slow to wake up in their first outing against Lincoln High School and were down two goals by half time.

They came out stronger in the second half though and Jenna Turnbull finished off a good team goal, but unfortunately the clock ran out before they could get any more, going down 2-1.

In Queenstown, at the Rural Livestock Junior Rugby Tournament, the Ashburton College Under-15 team suffered a narrow loss in their opening game, beaten by Gore High School 22-17, before taking on Wakatipu late yesterday afternoon.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 5 September 2018