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Orewa College’s 1st XI Girls Soccer team, fresh from League and Cup success last year, have started this year with a promotion.
Being winners of the North Harbour Senior division last season qualified the team for a playoff with three other Auckland Colleges for promotion to the A1 Auckland Division, a place Orewa College hasn’t been for over a decade.
Over the three game round robin series completed last month, Orewa surpassed even their own wildest dreams, going through undefeated without conceding a goal and scoring eight in the process. Giants like Kings College and Selwyn College failed to find the net against the locals.
Coach and former All White Sam Malcolmson says he is proud of his charges, especially as the team lost the services of two key players – skipper Aoifa King has an ACL operation scheduled this month after damaging her knee, and last year’s top goal scorer, Catalina Martabit Monsalve, returned home to Chile.
Sam says that those two hurdles alone would have “destroyed the belief” in most teams, but he is really proud of the way the girls have come together and formed a tight knit group, with ‘team’ being the operative word.
While looking forward to the challenge ahead, Sam is in no doubt as to the task facing his team in the A1 division
“This is a new level of skill and pace compared to last season,” he says. “The goal will be to establish ourselves in the division with a mid-table placing. Anything more will be a bonus.”
