Indoor Club Championships U18 wrap up

The U18 Indoor Club Championships were held over the weekend, with 5 boys teams and 6 girls teams facing off over the 3 days, to decide who would be crowned Champions.

There was a total of 33 matches played across the three days and we saw a whopping 191 goals scored. In the Women’s, it was Trinity Woodward (Powerhouse) and Candelaria Wortley (Camberwell) each scoring 8 goals across 6 games. While in the Men’s, Thomas Wilson (MCC) led the way with 10 goals in 6 games.

Girls Competition

In the Girls Competition, it was Powerhouse and Camberwell who finished 1^st and 2^nd respectively in the round robin, and progressed into the Grand Final. The two teams have a bit of history meeting each other in the finals for both Indoor and Outdoor, so this one was expected to be a thriller.

Trinity Woodward struck first for Powerhouse, scoring off a penalty corner in the 14^th minute. But then Bailey Wallace levelled it up for Camberwell in the 25^th minute. It was a tight contest for the remainder of the second half, but a late Powerhouse card gave Camberwell the opportunity they needed, with Bailey Wallace scoring their second goal of the match within the final two minutes to give Camberwell a 2-1 lead. It was a scramble in the last two minutes, with the ball travelling back and forth, but in the end it would be Camberwell leading after the final siren, making them premiers of the U18 Girls in 2023.

The 3^rd and 5^th place play-offs were high scoring affairs. In the 3^rd place play-off, it was a tight first half, with Mosman leading 1-0 at the break. Mosman’s Faith Thompson made it 2-0 1 minute into the second half, but then that goal was scored right back from Doncaster’s Maya Hilford. However, this close battle wouldn’t last for long, with Mosman scoring 2 goals in the next 3 minutes and then continued on to win 6-1 with additional goal scorers including Freya Hewitt-Park, Ziggy Leong, and Jenna Coghill. In the 5^th place final between Southern United and Altona, both teams left their all out of the court, fighting hard until the end, but it would be Southern who would walk away with the 5-0 win, with goal scorers Puck Okhuizen, Brylee Roberts, and Larissa Boshoff securing them 5^th place.

A special shout-out to our interstate team Mosman Hockey Club for not only their performance on the court, taking away 3^rd in their first Indoor Club Champs, but more so for their outstanding display of sportsmanship throughout the tournament. Most notably giving a freddo-frog in each match they played to who they believed to be the MVP from the other team. Thank you to coach Mark Hewitt-Park, team manager Danielle Leong, and all the players for their actions this weekend.

Boys Competition

In the Boys Competition, our classification matches got kicked off with a 4v5 elimination final between Waverley and Doncaster, with both teams vying for a spot in the Semi-Final to meet the first seed. Doncaster got out to an early lead, behind Joel Taylor goal off a penalty corner, but things would even up going into half-time, as Waverley’s Harrison Gerling put the ball into the back of the net in the 15^th minute. The tight contest continued into the second half, but Waverley ended up scoring a couple second half goals, teeing up a meeting with top of the ladder MCC.

Semi-Final 1 (2v3) between Altona and Hawthorn saw Altona progress 3-0 behind a couple goals from captain Harrison Leigh and one from Guy Fletcher. On the other side of the bracket in Semi-Final 2 (1v4), MCC proved too strong for Waverley, winning 6-1 as captain Thomas Wilson scored a hattrick accompanied by goals from Lachlan Hodgson and Jonny Spincer.

The Gold Medal match hosted the 1^st and 2^nd seed Altona and MCC, with MCC taking away the win in this matchup in the pool matches 4-1. The match was a back-and-forth exchange, with lots of action but neither team gaining any ground on the scoreboard in the first half. Altona’s Harrison Leigh’s 8^th goal of the tournament broke the deadlock in the 27^th minute, putting the pressure on MCC with 9 minutes to go. Some great defending from Altona, and a couple missed chances from MCC, would give Altona the win and upset. A tremendous effort from all players involved made for a great contest for spectators.

In the 3^rd place play-off, Waverley looked poised to hold Hawthorn scoreless and claim 3^rd place for the tournament, after going up 1-0 in the first half. But Hugh Ford from Hawthorn scored a goal in the 29^th minute evening the contest. However, with Hawthorn unable to get another goal, resulting in a 1-1 draw at full-time, the match winner would be declared Waverley as they were the higher seeded team coming into the match.

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/116

Girl’s Competition - https://hockeyvictoria.altiusrt.com/competitions/117

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 action continues this weekend (Feb 17, 18, 19) with the Under 16 Boys & Girls Event! Be sure to keep an eye on the HV website and social channels for updates.