AUTHOR: CATE SINCLAIR
Canberra Girls Grammar will face Saint Patricks this Friday in the hockey finals after an exciting game last week. On the 9th of September, the hockey girls picked up their sticks to face Central in the semi-finals. The Canberra Girls Grammar Under 18s hockey team is made up of a mix of girls ranging from year 8 to year 12. Throughout this season they have been excelling in their games and working incredibly as a team, which has resulted in their well-deserved place of 2nd on the ladder so far.
In the first half of the semi-finals, CGGS started it off strong with 1 goal each from Sophie Bolton and Alex Perry-Dalton. Although the rain pelted down, it did nothing to deter our girls. They fought on, weaving between their opponents and passing out to their teammates.
At half time CGGS had a quick, encouraging team talk to boost morale and strategise, which was put into quick effect as soon as the whistle had blown and the first hit had been taken. Sophie Bolton again was able to stealthily make her way to the goal, running around the defence and making an impressive shot.
At 3 goals to nil, our hockey girls were dominating the field, gaining their confidence and enjoying the fast-paced game. As the numbers ticked down on the clock their offensive front was building and they kept working their way back to their goal. There were shots that were very close to sailing into the net, but luckily many of them resulted in short corners. This occurs when the opposition’s foot touches the ball inside the inner circle around the goal. CGGS’s forwards would then set up around the circle, which can be seen in the photo to the right, while there is one girl situated at the top of the field who passes to the shooter. Once the shooter gets the ball, the objective is to score a goal although there are different manoeuvres that they can use to achieve this.
CGGS’s defenders were working so well together, fending off the attackers and drawing the ball away from them, which eventually made Central decide to pull their goalie off the field and replace her with a field player so that they would have more numbers when attacking. Fortunately for Girls Grammar, this did not turn out to be a good decision. Just minutes before the end of the game, we were yet again positioned in a short corner, which did not result in a goal, but instead, a penalty shot. This shot occurs when there could have been a possible goal which is prevented by the defense in a deliberate foul move. One of the attackers is then chosen to shoot from the dot in the middle of the circle surrounding the goal. There is only one defender that is allowed to defend the goal. Ingrid Hausknecht was elected to take the shot. Because Central had taken off their goalie, they had to use one of their defenders in her place. Ingrid hit the ball straight past the defenders outstrecthed arms, right into the lower right corner and scored! This was a great finish to an exhilarating and exciting game that ended in victory for the Girls Grammar hockey team.
After the game, Ellie Meggit, one of the Year 11’s in the team, reflected back on the emotions of the girls coming up to and throughout the game. “I think we were all a bit nervous about going into the semi-finals because we weren’t sure if we were going to win or how we were going to play, but after the first half we were all pumped up and really excited about leading and all excited to go into that grand final.”
Good luck to the CGGS hockey girls on Friday with the finals and if anyone is interested in playing remember to sign up next season!