West Australia lift U-21 Australian National Championship – Women Hockey
Kathryn Slattery scored in extra-time of the grand finale and had an assist, as Western Australia (WA) edged past the talented New South Wales (NSW) and lifted the title of the U-21 Australian National Hockey Championship being played at the National Hockey
Centre in Canberra on July 23, 2011.
The title-claiming match of the U-21 championship was one of the few competitive shows of the tournament, which was filled with a lot of thrill, action and excitement. Both the NSW and WA qualified into the final game with good record and enchanted the spectators
in the 70 minutes of play. The Western squad had advantage over the NSW, as they had overpowered them in the group match. Interestingly it was the only team that defeated the talented NSW throughout the tournament.
Apart from the previous game results, the NSW established their dominance over the field from the very early minutes. Georgina Morgan denied some of the brilliant moves from Western team and converted the attacks into the counter offences. In result of their
offences, the NSW earned brilliant chance in the form of short corner. However, Morgan failed to link the ball properly into the goal of WA. It could be turning point of the match in the case of successful effort, but the situation was changed after the missing
opportunity.
On the other side, the players from Western team were quite anxious with back-to-back attacks from NSW. However, both the defender and attackers from NSW were showing a well-organised game and carried out numerous attacks against the Western team. The NSW
developed an intense pressure over the opponent line-up and pushed them onto the defence. Emily Smith – the skipper of the NSW team was flying at very high pace at the forefront position and once managed herself in front of the goal with the ball under her
stick. Unfortunately, she failed to dribble only the custodian and missed the golden chance to put her team ahead at the scorecard. Both teams moved into the second half action with blank scorecards.
After the first half of play, it seemed that NSW was strong in the game. However, the opposite West Australian team picked up pace with the passage of time and created superb moves against NSW.
The WA earned a short corner in the late minutes and was hoping to convert it for making the late-goal victory. However, the situation remained same, as the NSW custodian made a dazzling dive to clear the ball from the circle. The level score pushed both
the teams into extra-time.
Despite an end-to-end play, neither team could come into the scoring in the first half of the over-time. With two minutes remaining in the second extra half, Kathryn Slattery scored a goal from the field and sealed the title-victory for West Australian Team
at 1-0. After a 12-day hockey gala, the WA clinched the title of the U-21 National Hockey Championship.
Tags: