HUGE efforts from Orange duo Rachel Divall and Madie Smith helped the NSW under 18 girls’ hockey team to a silver medal in last week’s Australian Championship Trophy at Melbourne’s State Netball Hockey Centre.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Attempting to defend its 2013 championship NSW dominated the pool stage of the competition, romping home against Victoria Whites (8-nil), Western Australia (4-nil), Victoria (3-1) and Tasmania (4-nil), while also defeating fellow Orange player Chloe Barrett’s NSW Blues 2-nil to finish first in pool A.
The top two sides from pools A and B progressed through to the trophy finals series, while the bottom three competed for the plate.
An 8-nil victory over ACT in the semi-final had NSW poised to complete the most commanding championship victory in recent memory, but a rampant Queensland lineup put paid to those thoughts with a clinical 5-2 win in the final.
Barrett’s NSW Blues, the state’s second-string, development team, started the competition in the worst way possible, suffering four consecutive pool defeats to Tasmania (2-1), NSW (2-nil), Queensland (5-nil) and Western Australia (1-nil) before overcoming Victoria 3-2 in the final round robin game, to finish fifth.
The Blues defeated Northern Territory 2-1 in the plate semi-final, but due to their small goal differential were unable to qualify for the final, instead making the third place play-off.
The goal differential worked in the Territory’s favour however, allowing them a second crack at Barrett’s side in the play-off.
Barrett and her teammates produced a clinical performance though, again winning 2-1 and securing bronze.