Maria Tutaia



Solonaima Maria Tuta'ia (born 18 February 1987 in Tokoroa, New Zealand) is a New Zealand international netball player. She can play at goal attack and goal shooter, and stands at 1.88 m.

Tutaia played domestic netball for the Auckland Diamonds during the National Bank Cup from 2005–07. With the start of the ANZ Championship in 2008, she signed with the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic, partnering Irene van Dyk in the shooting circle. Tutaia played with the Magic for two years, before transferring back to Auckland to play with the Northern Mystics, starting in 2010.[2]

Tutaia was part of the winning NZ Under-21 team that brought home the 2005 World Youth Cup from Miami. That year, Tutaia was called into the Silver Ferns team, making her on-court debut when the Ferns toured Jamaica.[3]  During her senior international career, she has won gold medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, 2006 Commonwealth Games and the 2009 World Netball Series, in addition to a silver medal at the 2007 Netball World Championships.[4] [5]

In the 2010 ANZ Championship, Tutaia was the first and only player to be sent off during the match against the Swifts for persistent breaking. This send off happened in the last two minutes of the match and took no further part in that match. Tutaia is renowned for scoring the crucial goals, such as in the gold medal match against Australia at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and during the 2011 ANZ Championship season when she scored the winning goal in the dying seconds against the Magic. However, in the 2011 Netball World Championships, after the Ferns managed to gain possession of the ball from an Australian turnover, Tutaia had the opportunity to score the winning goal during the final minute of extra time. However, the shot missed and Australia managed to regain possession and win the match.