Tauranga's Under 18 girl's hockey team are the winners of their first national tournament –grabbing the national Under 18 Association Tournament in Palmerston North last month.

It's a big coup – being the first time Tauranga has won a tournament since Tauranga Hockey began sending female age-group representative teams away in the early 1970s.

The champions - Tauranga U18 Girls' Hockey team.

At the inaugural National Association Tournament, the Tauranga team was competing against 16 teams from throughout the country during six days from July 15-20.

Coached by Tauranga Hockey president Paul Collins, and managed by Bernadette Millar, the Tauranga U18 girls were strong from the outset, winning all their warm-up games, says Tauranga Hockey Association manager Clyde du Toit.

'This success continued into the tournament with the girls winning all their pool and knockout games to finally face Canterbury in the final. Canterbury is the strongest hockey association in the country, so it was a huge challenge.”

The Tauranga girls came out firing and scored a goal within the first three minutes- and the teams then fought hard until half time.

'The Tauranga girls were playing out of their skins and played fantastic hockey in the second half to score three more convincing goals,” says Clyde.

'The final whistle went, and parents were screaming and the girls were crying. Not only had we won Tauranga's first ever girls gold trophy, but we had convincingly beaten Canterbury 4-nil in a final they would never forget.”

Goals were scored by Jodi Furmage, Steph Nielsen, Beth Henson and Georgia Childs.

Katie Horan was named most valuable player and the top goal scorer for the team was Georgia Childs.

Tauranga's Under 18 girl's hockey team: Kate Porter (captain) Sophie Millar, Jess Lacy, Emily Campbell, Beth Henson, Steph Chapman, Georgia Childs, Katie Horan, Jodi Furmage, Kelly Furmage, Isabella Kirk, Steph Nielsen, Steph Nicholson, Shvaughan Ririnui, Georgia Craig and Rhiannon Warner (goalie). Coach Paul Collins and Manager Bernadette Millar.