Boys and Girls teams competitive at Napier U19 tournament

The 2025 version of the Napier U19 tournament saw our Western Springs send Boys and Girls on the 6-hour journey to Hawkes Bay over Labour weekend.

The weather mostly held out for some great playing conditions for tournament football, with the wind certainly making a few games interesting for the coaches and players alike!

Day 1 of the tournament saw mixed results on the field, in what is a truly massive event, with teams attending from across the country. It proved to be a real eye opener. 

The Boys drew their first game with Bay Olympic 1-1, Ben Anderson on the scoresheet for Springs, but then lost a tight game to Tauranga City 1-0. Their last game of the day was a tough draw with Miramar Rangers 1-1, Ryley Burgess netting for Springs. These results meant they needed to win both games in their pool on Day 2, plus have a couple of results go their way, if they wanted to reach the quarter-finals.

The Girls opened their tournament with a solid 2-0 victory over Palmerston North Marist, the goals coming from Sophie Makwana and Jess Ellis.

Wellington United were up next, who went ahead 2-0, before Springs hit back with 5 unanswered goals from Lucy Carroll, Emily Worsley, Ava Lewis, Jess Loxton and an own goal in the second half, completing the comeback 5-2.

The third game was a tough assignment with local rivals West Coast Rangers, but goals from Jess Ellis and Jess Loxton got us the 3 points. It put the Springs girls in a position where they required only a win from either of their games on day 2, to qualify for the quarters.

On Day 2, after a tiring opening day, the Springs Boys fought to a 0-0 scoreline against Wellington North, before running out 5-0 winners over tournament hosts Napier City Rovers, thanks to goals from Ben Anderson, Darghey Brill, Lucas Townend, Archie Knox and Louie Short. Despite that win, they didn't progress to the quarter-finals, finishing 4th in Pool C with 1 win, 1 loss and 3 draws.

The Springs Girls toughed out a 1-0 win against Whanganui, thanks to a Lucy Carroll goal, but lost a very windy and physical battle 3-0 to Tauranga Moana, to finish 2nd in Pool D.

In their third game of the day, the quarter-finals brought up a resilient Birkenhead side, who had won Pool A. After conceding an early goal, Springs worked hard to get back into the game, but despite creating the chances, were unable to find the equalising goal.

A great performance by the Girls to have made the last 8, especially as the entire squad still qualifies to attend for the next 2 years!

A big thank you to all of the players for their hard work on the field, the coaching staff and our supporters that made the trip down. A fantastic tournament experience with our Springs Boys and Girls teams doing themselves and the club very proud.