Hockey Coffs Coast Grand Final Wrap Up
Beaches Hockey Club Claim Rare Double
Beaches are celebrating after winning a premiership double in the first grade men’s and first grade women’s grand finals on Saturday. It capped off an outstanding day for the club claiming 5 of the 8 grand finals on offer.
The first match of the day saw the Beaches ‘Sharks’ take on the Bellingen ‘Brumbies’ with both teams in great form heading into the decider. It was expected to be an extremely close game and that’s exactly what we got, Beaches coming away with the win 2-1. Goals to Dylan Hannaford and Ellie White for Beaches and Bella Morrison for Bellingen. Congratulations to Carter Lakeman from Orara Hockey Club, selected as Best & Fairest in this age division.
In the U13 decider it was Bellingen who put in a dominant first half performance in very hot conditions to shut Beaches out of the game. Rusty Osland, Indie Laverty and Bodhi Fabian led the way for the young Magpies who ran out winners 5-0. Divan Swart was a shining light for the Beaches side and he capped off a great season by collecting the Best & Fairest award for that age group. Goal scorers for Bellingen were Rusty Osland (3) and Bodhi Fabian (2).
The U15 grand final saw Urunga Lightning take on the Beaches Snappers in what promised to be a very close game. Beaches didn’t read the script though with a dominant performance to run out winners 4-0 with goals to Charlie Dent (2), Bryce Wallace and Levi Fischer. There was a six-way tie in the best and fairest award for the U15 age group with Hannah Dickson, Eamon Brown, Oliver Rodgers, Ewan Jarman, William Fisher and Maddy Osland collecting the award.
The first of the senior grand finals saw Bellingen defeat Beaches in the women’s division 3 final. This was a really close game with both teams having multiple opportunities in front of goal. Some resolute defence kept the score at 0-all and it looked like we were heading for extra time. Bellingen had other ideas though left it right to the very end to clinch the decider 1-0 with a goal to Shantelle Winchester. Congratulations to Fiona Spooner and Tamara Atkins who collected the Best & Fairest award in this division.
The Orara Valley ‘Ravens’ went into the Division 2 men’s grand final as firm favourites but someone forgot to tell the Beaches Coast Hotel Camels. They stunned Orara with some confident passing structures and clinical finishing to take the game 4 goals to 1. Goal scorers for Beaches were Rajpreet Sandhu (3) (one of them an outstanding reverse stick tomahawk) and Jeremy Porter with Brad Winzer scoring a great solo effort for Orara.
The women’s division 2 final was an extremely tight contest. Norths were on the scoreboard first with a well-worked goal by Jana Elling. Urunga put every effort into pegging back the margin but the Norths defence remained solid. The final score in a highly entertaining match was Norths 1, Urunga 0. Goal scorer and a stand out in the grand final was Jana Elling. Congratulations to Hayley Goldman and Gracie Winfer who earned the Best & Fairest award for that division.
The Women’s Division 1 game featured the Beaches ‘Seahorses’ up against arch rivals, Bellingen ‘Magpies’. The game was only a couple of minutes old when hat-trick hero, Molly Williams scored the first of her 3 goals for the opening quarter. That put Bellingen on the back foot early but Evie Laverty, Emma Osland and Michelle Levy helped steady the ship and create some opportunities of their own. Beaches held firm though with some great defensive reads from Ashleigh Ensbey and Breah Fischer.
The second half saw further goals to Mackenna Ensbey, Eliza Berrick and Molly Hodgson, with Beaches running out winners 6-0 to end a long premiership drought. Congratulations to Jaymie-Lee Lyndsay from Urunga Hockey Club who was named best and fairest in Women’s Division 1.
The final match of the day was the Men’s First Grade Grand Final with Beaches taking on Urunga in front of a large and vocal crowd. Beaches got on the score board early through Kieran Marshall after a well-worked penalty corner variation. Urunga hit back soon after though with a sharp chance taken by striker Lachlan Webb.
Shortly before half time, some sharp passing gave Adam Ellison all the time he needed to turn and flick the ball past the Urunga keeper to take the lead once again. Late in the 3rd quarter the Beaches crowd went wild when Max Miller chipped one into the back of the net off his reverse stick to push the score out to 3-1. Urunga always play the full 60 minutes though and managed to peg a goal back with 2 and a half minutes left on the clock. Dylan Nicol finishing off a close-quarter raid to set up a grand stand finish. It was a very nervous couple of minutes for the Beaches defensive unit but they held firm with the final score 3-2.
Beaches coach and mid-fielder, Jonathan Williams was thrilled with the outcome. “We’ve played quite a few grand finals against Urunga. They’re a quality side and they just never give up. We’ve led before and been beaten late in the game or in extra time so we knew we had to stay composed. I think we managed to do that really well and it helped us to build pressure at the other end of the field.”
Williams singled out emerging junior, Levi Fischer for special treatment. “I thought Levi Fischer was exceptional in that centre mid-field position tonight. We have to keep reminding ourselves that he’s only 14 years old. He’s got a huge future ahead of him if keeps playing like he did tonight”.
Urunga President and captain, Travis Ford was full of praise for his young chargers. “I thought our boys put in a courageous effort this evening. We had several guys playing with injuries but we just couldn’t quite get the job done. It was a great game of hockey though and our supporters really helped us stay in it right to the end.”
Congratulations to Keith Campbell from Orara who picked up the Best & Fairest award in the Men’s Div 1 competition. Umpiring awards were presented to Darren Worthing, Sue Musgrave, Hannah Dickson and Bodhi Fabian. To round out the award ceremony Urunga’s Ambrose Page was presented with the Scott Hardcastle Memorial trophy for the season’s most outstanding goalkeeping. It topped off a fantastic year for Ambrose including U21 NSW selection.
“What an outstanding grand final day”, said Hockey Coffs Coast President, Graham Robinson. “We had perfect weather for it and a great display of hockey across the junior age groups and senior divisions. We were very pleased to have local member, Gurmesh Singh in attendance as well to assist with our presentations. Hockey Coffs Coast would like to thank players, parents and volunteers for their contribution throughout the season. We’ll turn our attention to summer hockey now and welcome and new players for indoor and social twilight competitions”. -ENDS-
