ICC & JIC Week 3 wrap up

Week 3 of the Indoor Club Championships and Junior Indoor Challenge commenced on Friday night, with the Under 18 Girls & Boys and Under 16 Mixed Junior Indoor Challenge.

Under 18 Girls

There was a total of 20 matches played across the weekend at MSC Parkville and with 102 goals scored, and the leading goal scorer going to Georgia Taylor from Powerhouse & St Kilda Hockey Club.

With the top 4 teams from Pool A progressing into the Semi-Final matches, it was Powerhouse v Mosman in SF1 and Camberwell v Waverley in SF2. While the 5^th and 6^th ranked teams Southern United and Altona battled it in the 5^th place play-off.

In SF1, Powerhouse got out to a hot start, with Georgia Taylor leading the way scoring 2 unanswered goals in the first half, seeing them go into the 2^nd half up 2-0. This momentum carried over into the 2^nd half, with Shelby Giorlando and Georgia Taylor extending Powerhouse’s lead to 4. Mosman managed to win the chance at a couple penalty corners late in the 2^nd half, but great efforts from Powerhouse’s defence saw Mosman come away scoreless, with Powerhouse advancing to the Grand Final.

In SF2, Camberwell struck first, behind a goal from Candelaria Wortley. This wold prove to be the only goal of the first half, with both teams unable to find a gap in each other’s defence. Early in the 2^nd half, Waverley’s Bianca Zurrer levelled the match at one-a-piece with an impressive field goal. Things then remained tense for the next few minutes, with Camberwell unable to convert on two penalty corners. But finally, Candelaria Wortley broke the deadlock for Camberwell, putting them within sight of a Grand Final berth. With 2 minutes to go, Camberwell leading scorer Bailey Wallace put the icing on the cake, stretching the lead to 3-1, as Camberwell headed back to the GF.

In a rematch of the 2023 Grand Final, Camberwell were able to get on the board first by a goal from Bailey Wallace, but this was quickly answered by Powerhouse’s Maggie Mahony, tying the match at 1-1. At the 10-minute mark of the first half, Bailey Wallace converted on a brilliant penalty corner, and put her team up 2-1 heading into the 2^nd half. It was back and forth to start the 2nd half, with both team unable to add to the goal tally, and Camberwell was looking poised to repeat as Champions. But Powerhouse’s Georgia Taylor had other plans, as she eliminated Camberwell’s lead in the 27^th minute, and then converted on a penalty corner a few minutes later to propel Powerhouse into the driver’s seat. It proved to be a short-lived lead for Powerhouse, as Bailey Wallace netted a penalty corner of her own with 2 minutes to go, sending this one to the shoot-out it deserved. In the shoot-outs, it was all Powerhouse, with some incredible goal-keeping from Daisy Caink and goals from Georgia Taylor and Amelia Dethridge, Powerhouse won 2-0 and redeemed their defeat from last year.

The final standings were as follows:

Under 18 Boys

There was a total of 10 matches played across the three days at MSC Parkville, with 94 goals scored, with the leading goal scorer going to Harry Bradbury and Angus Le from Altona Hockey Club, with 16 goals each.

In Semi-Final 1, 1^st ranked Altona played 4^th ranked Southern United. Southern United got off the bat quick, with the fastest goal of the tournament, only 1 minute into the match, from Mack Harris. But this was quickly answered by a barrage of Altona goals. Altona continued this form in the 2^nd half, with some impressive performances from Harry and Angus, and claimed their spot in the Grand Final.

In Semi-Final 1, 2^nd ranked Mosman played 3^rd ranked Camberwell. Camberwell won their previous match-up in the pool matches 4-2, but Mosman responded strongly, taking the first two goals of this Semi-Final match, and heading into the 2^nd half up 4-1. Some missed opportunities early on for Camberwell in the 2^nd half gave the momentum to Mosman, and their very own James Robinson scored a hattrick of goals in this half alone, to finish the match with 5 goals, and set up a 1v2 clash in the Grand Final.

Altona started strong in the Grand Final, going up 2-0 early on – but two lightning fast goals from Mosman’s Archie Rainback scored in the 15^th minute saw the score even as the first half siren sounded. Some incredible defensive play ensued, with both teams getting multiple chances at goals from penalty corners, and for 14 minutes the 2^nd half remained scoreless. However, Mosman’s Kyle Hammond would be the one to put his team in front, with 4 minutes remaining. As time ticked down, Mosman looked like they were going to take out the championship, but Altona’s Freddy Waters kept his teams dreams alive and scored with 1 minute to go, seeing the match go into shoot-outs. In shoot-outs, Mosman edged out Altona 2-1, and saw them win their inaugural Indoor Club Championships event.

The final standings were as follows:

A special thank you to Mosman Hockey Club, and their players and team staff, for making the journey all the way from NSW to participate in our Indoor Club Championships. This is the second year running they have joined us here in VIC, and we really appreciate them coming down and having participating alongside our Victorian teams. We look forward to having them again in the future, and developing our relationship with our interstate neighbours.

Thank you to Stuart Westmore for his time this weekend taking photos of the event!  Go visit @hockeyvictoriaofficial and @skwhockeypics on Instagram to see our players in action!

View the full photo album here.

Under 16 Mixed Junior Indoor Challenge

The Under 16 Mixed JIC was run at Monash University, with 5 teams participating across Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday saw each team play 3 pool matches in their first pool groups, for a total of 10 matches. Then on Sunday morning, they played their remaining pool match, and from there played out some extra matches on Sunday afternoon teams to round out the weekend. It was great to see our developing indoor players taking the pitch for this tournament, and a thank you to all the officials and teams for their efforts.

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A huge thank you to all of the club administrators, team managers, coaches, players, officials and supporters that were involved in these events across the weekend!

To check out all of the results from the weekend, please use the following links:

Under 18 Girls

Under 18 Boys

Under 16 Junior Indoor Challenge

A huge thank you to our dedicated officials for their tireless work across the weekend. These events truly would not have been possible without you all. A special mention to the following for their appointments:

Under 18

Under 16 Mixed

The action continues this weekend (Feb 23, 24, 25) with the U14 Boys & Girls ICC! Head to Altius for fixtures & results, and be sure to keep an eye our social channels for updates.