Despite ominous weather, the sun came out for the A2 women's hockey match, played in Busselton on Saturday. The Margaret River ladies were up against Wests and hoping to cement their position on top of the ladder, heading into the finals come September.
With a full bench, coach Gary had a lot of talent to play with and was confident of a strong win.
Margies didn't disappoint with a strong start, controlling a majority of the play. Margies started the scoreboard ticking with a goal converted off a short corner rebound by Francine Davies. The teams second goal also came off a short corner, beautifully slogged by Helen O'Neil. With strong midfield and defensive play, Margies 3rd goal was nicely put away by Claire Sieber, again off a short corner.
After two close attempts, Sophie Moore was able to record the 4th goal off a lovely position on the left post.
In a great team display, the Margies ladies showed class and poise with lovely passing play through Emma Coffey, Kylie Simmonds and Claire to move the ball forward. Our young guns, the Altmann sisters, Chloe & Asha, stepped up showing mature play clearing balls out of defence. Lauren Francis continued to show her improved strength and determination, while Laura Dunkley showed great improvement and participated in some strong passages of play. Whenever Wests did penetrate the defence they were met with the tenacious Courtney Callow, who skilfully saved many shots on goal, ensuring Wests remained goalless.
As the half neared the end, Dee Garstone laid a brilliant tacked to cause a turnover, passed off to Kasey Davidson who got the ball to Claire which resulted in Margies 5th goal. Strong defensive play by Emma kept the score at 5-0 going into the half time break.
The second half began with some clever play from Dee after she picked off a ball from her Wests opponent and slotted in a skilful back stick goal. The half continued much like the rest of the game with Margies dominating play but Wests putting up a good fight. Helen once again showing she is the engine of the team in the midfield, ended up with the ball on her stick and shot a big slog from just inside the circle to take the score to 7-0. The girls were still goal hungry and Kate Sayers managed to slot goal 8 from a right post scramble. In a great sign heading into finals, the team were able to convert yet another short corner penalty via the sharp shooting Helen. With full time looming the Margies team kept up their skilful passing play with Claire finishing off with a strong hit just inside the D.
Final score 10-0, what a result and a great percentage booster! Whilst Coach Gary was pleased with the teams efforts, there are some areas of the game that need fine tuning if we want to be in the big match in September.
