Tasmanian Women beat South Australia by 4-2 in U-21 Australian National Hockey Championship
Keely Hunter and Blair Patten each lit the lamp twice as the Women’s hockey team of Tasmania registered a commanding 4-2 win over South Australia in the first classification match of the U-21 Australian National Hockey Championship that took place at the
National Hockey Centre in Canberra on July 22.
It was a classification match between 5th and 8th ranked teams, where the latter showed its worth for the first time and won the maiden game of the tournament. In the group fixtures, the Tasmanians played seven games out of which they
drew two and faced defeats in the remaining five. On the other side, the South Australians contested seven games of which they won two and lost in the five others.
The South Australian team defeated Tasmania by two goals, 2-0 in the previous fixture, but they failed to repeat the performance and lost the game with same two goals, 4-2.
The players from the Tasmania wanted to make an upset and luckily they succeeded to do so. It was a shocking game for the Southern players who have an edge of two victories in their hands. The players from Tasmania opened the game quite brilliantly and marked
their first goal of the day in the very second minute of the match. Keely Hunter of Tasmania managed to drive the ball inside the defensive circle and slammed it into the left-corner of the back-board.
It was the point which not only put South Australia under intense pressure, but also boosted the courage of Tasmanian players. The team playing on the other end also rendered some classic moves and made the results equal in the 16thminute of the
play. It was the defensive line of SA that created the chance for their strikers and managed to make a return into the game.
Tess Reynolds of South Australia moved the ball at the left flank of the goal after a patchy affair and chipped it into the cage to tie the knots at one-all. With seven minutes remaining into the first half, Blair Patten scored a goal from the field effort
and once again put Tasmania to the front at the end of the first period.
In the second half of play, both the teams commenced the game with same pace, but it was dominated by Tasmania. In a matter of four minutes into the second round, Blair Patten converted a short-corner and increased the lead up to two. However, Tess Reynolds
notched her second goal of the day in the 42ndminute and reduced the lead down to a single goal.
However, both sides made their defence tight and no further goal was scored until the concluding seconds. Hunter marked a goal from the field in the waning moments and sealed the victory at 4-2.
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