New South Wales to face Western Australia in U-21 Australian National Hockey Championship Finals
The women’s hockey teams of New South Wales (NSW) and Western Australia (WA) have won semi-final matches and will face each other in finals of the U-21 Australian National Hockey Championship being, which were held at the National Hockey Centre in Lyneham,
on July 22.
The NSW team edged past Victoria by 2-1, while WA overpowered Queensland by three goals, 3-0 in the semi-finals.
The first game was full of action, thrill and enchantment. After playing seven matches, NSW was holding top position while the Victorians were holding the 4th place at the point-chart.
Both NSW and Victoria carried out plenty of attacks against each other, but all in vain. No team could get on the score-board until the 34th minute of the match. With one minute left on the clock, when Georgina Morgan converted a short-corner
and scored the first goal of the crucial game. It was the only goal of the first period that boosted the courage of NSW players.
In the second half, both the team restarted the play quite fiercely and it was Victoria that scored a goal and drew the results. With two minutes into the second half, Tegan Purser marked a goal from the field and had it all even at one-all. After an end-to-end
play in the next 23 minutes, Cara Simpson added a goal for NSW and regained the single goal lead. It was the final score and NSW won the match at 2-1.
In the other crucial semi-final of the tournament, Western Australia whitewashed Queensland by three goals and booked a spot in the finals against New South Wales. It was a match between second and third ranked teams, where both have an impressive track
record. Queensland won six games out of total seven, while WA succeeded in five games and faced defeats in the remaining two.
As per their natural style, the Queensland opened up the game in a fast and furious way and pushed Western team to the defence. However, they recovered with a short-span of time and obtained the first goal in the 4th minute in the hands of Kathryn
Slattery. It was the only score in the first half of play and moved into the second with one-goal lead. Slattery and her team-mate, Penny Squibb, converted one short-corner each in the second half and won the semi-final at 3-0.
The Western Australia will face New South Wales in finals of the U-21 Australian National Hockey Championship.
Tags: