Goulburn women impress at Indoor State Championships

Both the Open Women's Indoor State Championships and Under 15s Girls Indoor State Championships were held from Friday, January 14, to Sunday, January 16, in Goulburn and Orange respectively.

Goulburn had teams entered in both competitions, with two in the Open Women's competition and one in the Under 15s.

Goulburn's standout performers were the junior girls, who went through the Under 15s tournament unbeaten to claim the title.

"The team was a bit inexperienced when they went in, and we had to recruit for some girls from Canberra, but they all stepped up and did really well," GDHA president, Sharney Fleming, said.

The only blip in the team's tournament was a 3-3 draw against the Central Coast on Saturday. But by the finals on Sunday, the team was in dominant form and scored a 4-2 win over Illawarra South Coast 1 in the semis.

The grand final against Metro South West was similarly hard-fought, but Goulburn could not be denied as they romped to another 4-2 win for the title.

"The coach [Naomi Jones] didn't have any expectation given that we had a few problems due to COVID, and there was a lot of mixing and changing," Fleming said.

"It was a mixed-up preparation, given that we originally only had five players, but then she recruited and she was absolutely excited and so were the players to win.

"They started a little bit shaky, but they came through and did everything she asked of them and more."

The Open Women's teams, meanwhile, enjoyed a similarly strong start to their tournaments at Goulburn's Veolia Arena despite an equally troubled lead-in.

Jones coached the Opens along with the Under 15s leading in to the tournament, but obviously could not be in two places at once over the weekend, so local legend Glenn Turner had agreed to step in and take the senior teams' reins for the duration of the tournament.

However, due to a close contact with a positive coronavirus case, Turner had to go into quarantine at late notice. Luckily, Jones had a contact in Canberra in the form of local hockey veteran Cam Smith, who agreed to step in to the role just before the tournament began.

The Division One team began their tournament in excellent form, with just one loss and three emphatic victories which secured them passage to finals.

Once in the semis, though, they could not take advantage of numerous scoring chances and fell painfully short of a grand final berth, losing 2-3 to North West Sydney.

"They had a great tournament really, they were very unlucky not to score more in the semis," Fleming said.

"They had the run of play and a lot of chances on goal, but they just didn't finish off. They were actually a really good, strong team from Goulburn."

The Goulburn Division Three team had a slower start to the tournament, with a 3-3 draw against Dubbo in the opening game.

A 5-1 win closed out the first day, but the campaign was derailed on Saturday with two losses. There was, however, a bright note, as the team beat Nepean 5-1 on Sunday in the third place playoff.

The entire weekend was positive for the GDHA, and following on from the Open Men's semi-final finish the week prior, left Fleming in good spirits about the state of local hockey.

"We're looking forward to this year coming," she said.

"With a new turf, getting new lights, and a new scoreboard, we're looking to build again. We're very proud of what the girls have done, along with the boys. We're incredibly proud of what they've all done."

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