Inside a thrilling second week of Indoor Club Championships

Week 2 of the Indoor Club Championships and Junior Indoor Challenge commenced on Friday night, with the Open Women’s Division 2 and Under 12 Junior Indoor Challenge.

Open Women’s Division 2

There was a total of 20 matches played across the three days at the State Netball Hockey Centre, with 117 goals scored, with the leading goal scorer going to Zoe Klopak from Essendon Hockey with 13 goals.

In SF1, Mentone’s Emma Leighton scored within the first few minutes of the match, putting some serious pressure on Border Indoor. After the rest of the first half was scoreless, Mentone then struck again early in the 2^nd, giving them a two-goal buffer. However, Rylee Pontt clawed one back in the 31^st minute for Border Indoor, but it was too little too late, as Mentone closed it out 2-1 and were the first team to progress into the Grand Final.

Goals were flying in SF2 as Essendon & PEGS clashed. The first half was all Essendon, with goals from Hannah Thomas and Isabella Burns put Essendon ahead 2-0 going into the 2^nd half. PEGS would not be denied much longer, as Ava Doolan found the back of the net in the 21^st minute, closing the gap to just 1 goal. The two teams then traded goals back and forth until Ava Doolan once again netted one to bring the score to 4-3 within the dying minutes of the match. A frantic last few minutes ensued, and Essendon sealed their victory by winning a penalty corner in the final minute. 

The blockbuster grand final was a showdown between the two top ranked teams, who in their last meeting drew at 1-a-piece. The Grand Final proved to be no different, with nothing separating the two teams come half-time as they were locked at 1-1. But halfway through the 2^nd, Mentone’s Nicole Anderson broke the deadlock and put her team that must closer to victory. As time ticked away to the final minute, it looked like all hope was lost for Essendon, but a last attack effort gave them an opportunity to score off a penalty corner. It was no surprise when Zoe Klopak scored her 12^th goal for the tournament and sent the match to a shoot-out. Tensions were high in the shoot-out, and it was the heroics from Essendon keeper Claire Peacock, saving two crucial goals, that would prove to be the difference, as Essendon went on to win 2-1 and claim back-to-back Indoor Championships.

The final standings were as follows:

Under 12 Mixed Junior Indoor Challenge

The Under 12 Mixed JIC was run at Monash University, with 11 teams participating across Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday and Sunday morning saw each team play a series of pool matches in their first pool groups. Then on Sunday afternoon, teams were placed into subsequent pools based on their finishing positions in their original pool around. They played an extra 1-2 cross-over matches on Sunday to round of the weekend, for a total of 25 matches. It was great to see our up-and-coming indoor players put on such a great display of hockey and comradery!

Thank you to all the officials that participated in the U12 JIC this year, and a special thank you to our Umpire Managers, umpire coaches and team staff for assisting with the development of these officials.

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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! We are so grateful for your support in running these events – it would not be possible without you.

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

Open Women’s Division 2 ICC

Under 12 Junior Indoor Challenge

Open Division 2

Under 14 Mixed

The action continues this weekend (Feb 14, 15, 16) with the Under 16 Mixed JIC event! Head to the HV Website for fixtures & results, and be sure to keep an eye our social channels for updates.