Indoor Club Championships U14 wrap up

The U14 Indoor Club Championships were held over the weekend, with 20 teams competing across three days at MSC Parkville and Monash University.

There were a total of 60 matches played across the three days and we saw a whopping 128 goals scored in the Girls competition, with Footscray’s Zoey Sykes leading the way with 11 goals. 293 goals were scored in the Boys competition, with top goal scorer going to Waverley’s Jack Brennan with 19 goals.

Girls Competition

In the Girls competition, it was Footscray and Waverley who would stand above the rest of the competition in the Pool matches, In Semi-Final 1, Footscray would take an early lead and not look back, holding off an early second half goal from Southern United to win 3-1 and progress to the Gold Medal match. Semi-Final 2 was an exhilarating match, and Waverley held a 3-2 lead in the dying minutes of the match, but Doncaster’s Jade Hilford evened the score with 2 minutes to go. However, the a last minute field goal from Waverley star Aaliayah Koelmeyer would give Waverley the 4-3 win and push them through to the Grand Final.

In the Grand Final match between Footscray and Waverley, Waverley would get off to a scorching hot start, scoring 4 goals in the first half, whilst holding Footscray scoreless. In the end, this lead was insurmountable despite strong efforts from the Footscray players, scoring two unanswered goals in the second half both coming from the leading competition scorer Zoey Sykes. Congratulations to both teams for their display of hockey this weekend, and congratulations to our Gold Medal winners Waverley!

The 3^rd place play-off between Southern and Doncaster would be a heated battle, with Southern taking a 2-0 lead early, but a late first half Doncaster goal would see them cut the lead down to 2-1, and take momentum into the 2^nd. This momentum proved useful, with a first minute second half goal tying the score, putting them back in this one. Things would remain scoreless for a while behind solid defence from both teams, but Southern’s Jade Hilford would break the tie with 5 minutes remaining. However, Doncaster’s Teegan Dally scored a crucial penalty corner in the 33^rd minute, tying this contest. With scores level at full-time the tiebreak would be the team with more points in their original pool, making Doncaster the winners of this one, and 3^rd place overall in the event.

The rest of the field progressed into Pool C after the original pool matches, which saw each team play each other once for a total of three matches, and the final ladder rankings determining overall placement. TEM went undefeated in this pool, scoring a whopping 15 goals across 3 matches, seeing them take 5^th overall; followed by in 6^th Mentone winning 2 matches, then Camberwell edging out Essendon to take 7^th overall.

Boys Competition

In the Boys Competition, it was a very close contest in the respective pools, with Mentone taking the 1^st seed in Pool A by 1 goal; and then three teams tied for 2^nd in Pool B but Brunswick advancing to the Semi-Finals ahead by 2 goals. Semi-Final 1 between Mentone and Brunswick was a deadlock with neither team gaining an advantage on the scoreboard until Brunswick’s Oliver Mortimer scored in the 26^th minute. The next 10 minutes would be incredibly tense, and Brunswick looked poised to progress to the Grand Final. But Mentone would pull off a miracle, scoring 2 goals in the 35^th minute behind Keenan Trinidade and Leeroy Rockman, and pushing them over the line in this one. Semi-Final 2 was also a tight contest, with Doncaster striking first, but a quick answer from Waverley would see scores level heading into the second half. Waverley would then hold Doncaster scoreless, whilst scoring two behind Aidan Carmody and Samuel Moore, lining up a battle of the first seeds in the Gold Medal match.

Waverley were in prime form in the final, coming out and scoring 4 goals in the first half. Unfortunately for Mentone, this barrage did not cease in the second half despite some strong efforts from the Mentone Goal Keeper and defenders. However, Mentone would not be shut out, as Leroy Rockman would capitalise on a penalty corner late in the second half with an incredible goal. Waverley would end up claiming Gold 7-1 with Jack Brennan putting 3 in the back of the net, Samuel Moore adding 2 more, and Kryshant Jiwa and Aidan Carmody scoring one a piece. Congratulations to both sides for competing at the highest level this week, and congratulations to the Gold medal winner’s Waverley, for putting on a dominant showing of hockey, having a +58 goal difference throughout the tournament.

The 3^rd place play-off between Brunswick and Doncaster would be level at half-time, but a yellow card awarded to Brunswick in the second half would give Doncaster the opportunity they needed, and Austin Allen gave them a 2-1 that would remain the score at full-time.

The 5^th-12^th classification matches would prove fairly evenly matched, with all teams giving their all to win their final games. TEM would prevail against Southern United 4-2 in the 5^th place play-off. Yarra Valley took the win against Hawthorn 2-0 to claim 7^th; Footscray would prove too strong for KBH winning 5-1 for 9^th; and then Camberwell would win the 11^th place play-off 3-1 against Essendon.

A huge thank you to all of the club administrators, team managers, coaches, players and supporters that were involved in the event!

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.

The final standings were as follows:

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

Boy’s Competition - https://hockeyvictoria.altiusrt.com/competitions/121

Girl’s Competition - https://hockeyvictoria.altiusrt.com/competitions/120

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

The final ICC event occurs this weekend (Mar 3 - 5) with the Open Div 2 Event! Be sure to keep an eye on the HV website and social channels for updates.