Thundersticks women bolster finals hopes in Tassie clash triumph

The Perth Thundersticks women's side have kept their Sultana Bran Hockey One League finals hopes alive after a dominant 3-0 victory over the Tassie Tigers at Perth Hockey Stadium at Curtin University.

The Thundersticks side started off in red-hot form, but the many chances that fell in the first quarter for the side were unable to be converted into scores.

Georgia Wilson found the breakthrough, scoring in the 19th minute after a brilliant attacking run from Neasa Flynn found her stick for the deflection, with Wilson also scoring the conversion to take the Thundersticks lead to 2-0.

Shanea Tonkin extended the Thundersticks lead to 3-0 in the third quarter with a scintillating tomahawk landing in the 42nd minute, with the Thunderstick women running away as victors to keep their finals chances alive.

Thundersticks vice-captain Penny Squibb was pleased her side was able to convert their opportunities into scores.

"We created our chances, which we have done in the last couple of rounds, but it was nice to be able to convert a few this week after two scoreless efforts the weeks prior," Squibb said.

"We have been fine tuning our defensive systems these past few weeks to ensure that we support our strikers, so it has been great to reap the rewards."

The men's side suffered a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of Tassie, going down 7-6 in shootouts after a thrilling 0-0 effort that lasted until the final siren.

It was a tough contest across the board leading into the main break, with both sides applying the pressure but unable to score their many chances, resulting in a thrilling shootout climax.

Thundersticks goalkeeper Ben Rennie made a few crucial saves that were met by the roars of the Perth crowd, but a few errors from the side's conversions resulted in defeat.

The Perth Thundersticks will clash with the Canberra Chill in their final match of the regular season on Saturday 5 November at the National Hockey Centre Canberra.

RESULTS

Women's Perth Thundersticks 3 defeat Tassie Tigers 0
Goals:
Perth - Georgia Wilson (19') (19'), Shanea Tonkin (42')

Men's Perth Thundersticks 0 (6) defeated by Tassie Tigers 0 (7)