Defeat of Derwent gives edge for finals
themercury.com.au
DIAMONDBACKS will feel they will take a mental edge over defending champions Derwent after walking away 2-0 winners, just a week ahead of their elimination final.
The women’s Premier League hockey title race is wide open and it’s difficult to comprehend that one of these two sides will be knocked out next Saturday.
DiamondBacks skipper Philly Bridley was pivotal for the Snakes’ midfield drive, scoring both goals from penalty corners and said it was important her side showed they could defeat Derwent.
“The last two times we’d played, we hadn’t been able to get on top of them, so it was good to win today for confidence,” Bridley said.
“Emily Donovan played an exceptional game and gave us the drive upfront to be able to put pressure on the Derwent defence and earn penalty corners which we scored off.
“It was obviously a bit weird playing them today, but that’s why we rested Lucy Eade as she was a bit sore.
“We will definitely be reviewing today’s game during the week and focusing on what we can be improving and fine tuning, but we’ll also be practising shootouts as our finals have come down to them in recent years.”
Both North-West Graduates and OHA warmed up for their qualifying final with convincing 5-0 and 4-1 wins against Canterbury and University, respectively.
Graduates forward Josie Crowden scored her second consecutive brace, while teammates Grace Calvert, Ash Arthur and Louisa Jacobson also scored in their win. University skipper Helen Rackham’s 30year senior hockey career drew to a close without a fairytale finish, with OHA’s Maddy Brooks, Julia Gunn, Sofie McLeod and Ella Beresford all scoring to spoil the party.
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CANTERBURY’S men’s hockey finals dreams came to a crushing end as they fell at the final hurdle, while University secured a final minute 4-3 win against OHA to set up an enticing elimination final between the pair next weekend.
It was an all-action final round of men’s Premier League matches, with Canterbury’s seesawing clash with minor premiers North-West
Graduates ultimately ending with a 6-2 win for the latter.
Needing to win to give themselves a faint chance of playing finals, the Lions barely registered a yelp as Graduates skipped away to a 3-0 lead at halftime.
But a halftime rocket from coach David Budgeon sparked them into action and two goals within a minute had the Lions crowd rocking.
Brenton Watson found the net shortly after for
Canterbury, but it was ruled out for an earlier infringement, and it was the let-off Graduates needed to settle and finish off the Lions with Matt Lim scoring two goals.
With a finals spot assured, University took to the field with a calm mindset and a hat-trick to skipper Ben Read saw the Students upset OHA — their opponents in next weekend’s elimination final.
“We didn’t change anything in our preparation,