Murphy to fore on return as impressive Ships stay unbeaten

MADDY Murphy has wasted little time making lemonade from her unexpected return from the US to the women’s Premier League, earning best afield honours and scoring a goal as the Ships stay unbeaten.

The Environmental Engineering student has been studying and playing hockey at the University of Iowa for the past three years on a full scholarship but returned to Tasmania to study online while Iowa grapples with COVID-19.

Officially now on a study break and due to start her senior year in August, Murphy says she is relishing being back in her home state and among her OHA teammates as Iowa still faces around 500 new COVID-19 cases per day.

“It’s still very uncertain whether next semester will be done online her in Australia or back in Iowa,” Murphy said.

“My Iowa Hawkeyes had a really good season recently winning both the Big Ten Conference and Big Ten Tournament, then finishing seventh in the nation after losing to the eventual national champions.”

Murphy was named in the All-American second team and the NFHCA Academic squad for maintaining a Grade Point Average score over 3.5, although she is the first to admit those achievements are difficult to line up with equivalents in Australia.

The former Australian U/21 Jillaroos player has made a big impact since return to OHA, helping the Ships defeat nearest premiership rivals NorthWest Graduates (3-1) and DiamondBacks (2-1) in consecutive weeks.

“Both those sides gave us a lot of intensity,” she said.

OHA will be out to make it four wins on the trot when they face University at 2.30pm this Saturday.