Remarkable tournament sees WA wealth

The Hockey WA Under 18s teams have done Western Australia proud, after both teams represented the state in medal matches at the National Championships in Launceston.

Hamish Adamson (YMCC) was a standout during the tournament for the men’s side, after being nominated the Player of the Tournament and scoring the most goals from any side, with a total of eight goals.

The side will be bringing home a silver medal, after a nail-biter gold medal match that was only decided with seven minutes of play remaining.

The gold medal match was played against New South Wales State, who the side beat 5-3 in the pool match earlier in the tournament.

The battle between the two sides saw a 0-0 score line at half time, before WA got the first goal through Max Freedman (YMCC) at the 40-minute mark.

Shortly after, New South Wales scored an equaliser, before netting another field goal in the fourth quarter, giving them the 2-1 win and the gold medal.

Before this point the WA side was undefeated, a lot of which can be attributed to the excellent attacking penalty corner scoring, with a passing game that was hard for other teams to beat.

The women’s side narrowly missed out on being awarded a bronze medal with a 2-1 loss in penalty shootouts to Northern Territory.

NT scored early in the final, getting a score on the board in just one minute of play.

After 47 minutes of fighting to equalise, Saysha Pillay (Melville) scored a goal for WA at 48-minutes, which led to a 1-1 draw at full time.

A penalty shootout was the decider, and two scores against one meant NT was able to get the upper hand and take the bronze medal home with them.

Regardless, an amazing effort and display of hard work put in by the women’s side throughout the whole tournament, which began last week.

A special thanks to the off-field teams for both the men and the women for a long and hard preparation, leading into fantastic results all around.

Off-field teams for both sides are below:

MEN:

Head Coach: Tim Geers

Assistant Coach: Dom Hird

Manager: Jeanette Collins

WOMEN:

Head Coach: Simon Andrew

Assistant Coach: Casey Donaldson

Manager: Julie Murray