Kirsten Pearce Scores Five as Tridents Women Hit Mavericks for Seven
Five goals. One player. Kirsten Pearce ran the show as the Tridents women put seven past the Mavericks without reply in Auckland on Sunday.
Rose Tynan opened it in the 13th minute, and then Pearce took over. An open-goal finish before the end of the first quarter, another in the 17th minute, and three more before she was done. The Tridents were 4-0 up by half-time and never let up. Sophie Hildesley finished it off in the 52nd minute.
Seven goals is a statement, whichever way you look at it. The Tridents women have set the early pace in the women’s competition, and after the Alpiners women won 3-2 in Napier on Saturday, Auckland have made sure nobody forgets about them.
The late game went the other way. The Mavericks men beat the Tridents 3-1, and there was a comeback story in it too. Scott Coslett opened the scoring for the Tridents on his return after 18 months away from the turf through injury, a drag flick that will have felt good. But Cameron Steffert answered with two for the Mavericks, a deflection in the 31st minute and another just after half-time, and Nic Woods sealed it with a drag flick of his own.
So the opening weekend finished split in Auckland: a 7-0 hammering one way, a 3-1 away win the other. The league now takes a break while the Black Sticks men host India in the centenary series, and the PHL resumes on 28 and 29 November at North Harbour.
