Successful College soccer tour

Ruapehu Bulletin, 3 August 1993, Page 9

Successful College soccer tour

The Ruapehu College first eleven returned on Saturday from their South Island tour having recorded a win and a loss. In their first game against Geraldine High School they met a much older and larger side who were able to dominate any high balls. Ruapehu had scoring opportunities including a missed penalty but were unable to find the net. The final score of 6-0 was still a satisfactory result against a side that has qualified for the secondary schools tournament to be held in Nelson later this month. They also had the depth to be able to send their second eleven away on the same day to play the Fairlie High School first eleven. In their second match,

against Waimate High School, Ruapehu came away with a 3-2 win. This was the main game of the tour with opposing coach John McCartney, previously the Ruapehu College coach, before moving to Waimate in 1991. After conceding an early goal in the second minute, Ruapehu consolidated and started to play the better team football, levelling with a superb goal by Stacy Cranston from the edge of the penalty box, just before half-time. Halfway into the second-half Andrew Murdie put Ruapehu ahead with an opportunist goal after some good following up. Aeneas O'Sullivan scored almost immediately after to give a comfortable two goal margin. To their credit Waimate

came back scoring a goal just before full-time. Player-of-the-tour was awarded to Aeneas O'Sullivan who had two outstanding games, always with that extra little bit of speed needed up front. Others to impress were Avinesh Sharma for his captaincy and Nathan Swain for his solid defensive play.