Hockey
3 September, 2024
Yanac teams grand final bound
Four of the Wimmera hockey semi-finals played at Anzac Park in Warracknabeal on Saturday followed the script with the higher team on the ladder coming out victorious, but the two Horsham senior teams had different ideas.
Finishing lower on their respective ladders, the Horsham Jets and Horsham Hurricanes bucked the trend by defeating their higher-ranked opponents to keep their premiership dreams alive, while the Yanac teams have once again qualified for the grand finals in each division.
- Open -
Having defeated the Hurricanes by a margin of three goals in each of their three encounters so far this season, the Cobras looked to be on track to repeat the result when Lachie Mills knocked the ball across the goal line with two minutes left in the first period of play to take the lead by quarter time.
In an otherwise even second quarter, Horsham began to show that they were rising to the challenge by earning the only penalty corner for the period of play, but they were unable to convert this onto the scoreboard, and Kaniva still held the advantage at half-time.
Horsham kept up the pressure when play resumed and it paid off with a goal to Charles Hassall midway through the quarter to have the teams tied at one-all at the last break.
With a spot in the preliminary final on the line, the intensity increased as the final whistle approached, and it was a goal to Jonothan Horsfall that broke the deadlock in favour of the Hurricanes. With this, the intensity went up even more, and as the clock ticked down, some desperate work earned the Cobras one last chance at drawing the game and forcing it to a penalty shootout when they earned a penalty corner within seconds of the end of play.
This was played out after full time, but unfortunately, in an anticlimactic finish, the ball was not trapped cleanly at the top of the ‘D’, and it ran out of play, ending the penalty corner and the game with the Hurricanes ahead.
Regular top performers Stuart Hallett, Paul Mackereth, and Charles Hassall led the way for the Hurricanes, and for Kaniva, it was Clint Beattie, Lachlan Mills, and Josh Bedford whose tireless work kept them in the game until the end.
In the other semi-final, the Yanac Tigers, chasing a place in a seventeenth consecutive grand final, switched on right from the first whistle, in contrast to the Hoops, who took a while to get up to speed, and as many teams have found out over the years, you can’t give the Tigers a head start and expect it to end well.
By the time the Hoops hit their straps early in the second quarter, the Tigers had two goals on the board, from a successful penalty stroke by Brad Alexander at the end of the first quarter and a field goal two minutes after the quarter time break.
Although the Tigers had the upper hand, what followed was three-quarters of very intense hockey, with the Hoops matching the Tigers all over the field, but they were unable to claw back anything where it counted on the scoreboard.
A scrappy field goal in the last quarter by Josh Cramer increased the final margin to three goals, sending the Tigers to another season decider.
Todd Alexander, Brad Alexander, and Simon Farmers were the best players for the victors, and Hoops’ defenders Hamish Wagenknecht and Royce Bennett did their best to hold up the Tigers attackers, while Oskar Bennett added some dash to the Hoops’ forward line.
The Tigers now have a week off before the grand final, while the Warrack Hoops will need to regroup and recover their spark in time to tackle the confident Hurricanes, who will be dreaming of their first grand final since 2008.
- Women -
The Women’s First semi-final was not as close as the three-way battle over the last few rounds to decide which teams would play off in this game.
The Dimboola Roos had an excellent season to finish in third place on the ladder but were missing several key players on Saturday and went into the game as underdogs. In contrast, the Horsham Jets, who only qualified for the finals on the result of the last match of the regular season, had close to their strongest team for the season.
Three Horsham goals by halftime put them in control of the game, and while the Roos held them scoreless during the third quarter, two more goals in the last gave the Jets the biggest winning margin of the day, with five goals. Annabelle Heal scored three, and Hannah Mackereth and Maddy Spano scored one each, with Spano, Hannah Werner, and Launa Shilling named their best players.
The Roos’ list of best players had a familiar look, with defenders Jennie Hauselberger, Ashlee Baker, and Cara Hadzig joined by young forward Jasper Ward.
From not fielding a team since 2021, this was still an outstanding performance by the Roos, while the Jets are still on the trail of their first grand final appearance since 2022, which is not yet guaranteed as they need to overcome Kaniva next week for that honour.
The Second Semi-Final was also looking like going against ladder positions when Kaniva took the early lead, with a goal by Lisa Stimson in the first quarter, and despite some competitive hockey, that remained the only score until deep into the last quarter. With just two minutes remaining, Mikayla Mackley scored a field goal to equalise the scores, and just over a minute later scored a second goal to put the reigning premiers in front.
With her two goals, Mikayla Mackley was named Yanac’s best player, with plenty of support from Erin Alexander and Caitlyn Alexander, and for Kaniva, Sharon Williams put in a tireless effort at fullback, stopping many Yanac scoring attempts as the last line of defence, with forwards Lisa Stimson and Jules Braisby also playing well.
- Under 16 -
Both matches in the Under 16 division resulted in comfortable wins for the higher ranked teams, with the Yanac Warriors qualifying for the grand final with a four goals to-one win over the Kaniva Raiders, and the Nhill Leopards controlled their match against the Horsham Bombers and finished with a three-goal victory.
Next week, the preliminary final will see the Raiders play the Leopards in another match while their performances during the season suggest that they should go in as favourites, they need to be careful facing an opponent that has kept pace with the top two for much of the season and is very capable of winning another game or two this season.
Wimmera Hockey Association - Semi-Finals
- Open -
Second Semi-Final - Yanac Tigers 3 (Goals - T Alexander, B Alexander, J Cramer; Best - T
Alexander, B Alexander, S Farmers) defeated Warrack Hoops 0 (Best - H Wagenknecht, R
Bennett, O Bennett)
First Semi-Final - Horsham Hurricanes 2 (Goals - J Horsfall, C Hassall; Best - S Hallett, P
Mackereth, C Hassall) Kaniva Cobras - 1 (Goal - L Mills; Best - C Beattie, L Mills, J Bedford)
- Women -
Second Semi-Final - Yanac 2 (Goals - M Mackley 2; Best - M Mackley, E Alexander, C
Alexander) defeated Kaniva 1 (Goal - L Stimson; Best - S Williams, L Stimson, J Braisby)
First Semi-Final - Horsham Jets 5 (Goals - A Heal 3, H Mackereth, M Spano; Best - M
Spano, H Werner, L Schilling) defeated Dimboola Roos 0 (Best - J Hauselberger, A Baker, C
Hadzig, J Ward)
- Under 16 -
Second Semi-Final - Yanac Warriors 4 (Goals - A Pedie, Archie Zanker, T Rethus, Asher
Zanker; Best - Archie Zanker, Asher Zanker, S Pedie) defeated Kaniva Raiders 1 (Goal - J
Beattie; Best - C White, J Beattie, L Krelle)
First Semi-Final - Nhill Leopards 3 (Goals - D Clark 3; Best - D Clark, B Cannell, O Bone)
defeated Horsham Bombers 0 (Best - J Schwarz, H Mackereth, J Di Pietro)