The 2022/23 season was an extremely tightly fought contest in the women’s league. It saw big wins and close games but the results were always unpredictable.
After 18 games we had only two points separating 1st and 4th. This was evident come finals when two out of four of the finals games were decided with a penalty shoot-out.
1 v 4 Raptors vs Wolves was the first of the finals games. It was an even game across the board as both teams went goal for goal. Raptors saw goals from Tank, Rijsenbrij, and Curcio while the Wolves scorers were Sargeant, Borrett, and Kenyon. 1-1 after the first period, 2-2 after the second, and 3-3 after the third. The game was eventually decided by a solitary goal by Kenyon for the Wolves as the only goal in the penalty shoot-out.
The second final of 2 v 3 was fought between the Foxes and Dragons. This game started as a tightly contested game. 0-0 after the first, before Mutton broke the drought with a goal for Foxes in the second. Stokes put the icing on the cake in the third with a second Foxes goal, culminating in a 2-0 victory and a shut-out in goals for Throop.
The grand final saw the Wolves take the early lead over the Foxes, with goals to Bradley, Hancock and Kenyon. Things were looking dire for the Foxes with only a single goal to Thompson. With two minutes to go, the Foxes did not give up. Goals to Chong and Thompson within 30 seconds of each other saw the Foxes fight back in the dying minutes to tie the game.
Another tightly fought penalty shootout with goalies Throop and Buschman denying player after player goals in the shootout. Finally a breakthrough by the Foxes Angie Stokes was the difference in the game to give the Foxes the championship.
It has been 12 years since the last Australian Women’s National Championship was played and with the resumption of the tournament the ACT Women’s team was one of six teams that travelled to Melbourne to play for National Championship. The tournament was open to players 15+ years old and featured many of the best women’s players in Australia, including National Team players, 2022 U18 National Team players and many AWIHL players. As you can imagine, and many of you saw on the live stream, the standard of play was very high. With the support of IHACT the 17 players selected to represent ACT worked hard to get ready for the tournament with several training sessions and three exhibition games. (Thank-you Vikings and Senators)
ACT started the tournament with an exciting game vs NSW and after 3 periods with the score 2 – 2 we headed to overtime. A fast-paced overtime with chances to score generated by both teams resulted but the score remained tied, and the game was settled with a shootout. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the result were hoping for and NSW took the win and the extra point. In the end that extra point had a huge effect on the final standings to determine who would play for the medals.
ACT v SA
ACT next played a very strong and eventual 2022 National Champions Victoria and although ACT eventually lost the game 5 – 0 our team gave a very good account of themselves and pushed Victoria right to the end. Our next game was against Western Australia in a game that could have gone either way but in the end, WA came away with the win.
The team now had to win it’s last two games to make the medal round and in an early morning start ACT faced South Australia and with a solid effort came away with the win. ACT would play Queensland next, needing a win to advance to the medal round. As it turned out the extra point NSW took by winning the shoot out in ACT’s first game meant that if ACT beat Queensland ACT would finish 3rd, ahead of Queensland, and eliminate NSW from the medal round.
ACT’s game against Queensland was an outstanding game with a quick pace, physical play, strong goal tending and two teams that were playing for positioning in the medal round. ACT desperate to finish third and qualify, or be eliminated, and Queensland wanting that third spot so they wouldn’t have to face an undefeated Victoria team in the first game of the medal round. The game was very close and came down to the wire with Queensland taking the win to finish third in round robin play.
Queensland went on to take home the silver medal after losing to Victoria in the finals and after just squeaking into the medal round NSW took home the bronze medal.
The National Women’s Championships was everything you would expect to see when the best players in the country compete against each other. The hockey was a very high quality and a tribute to just how good women’s hockey is in Australia. The players that represented ACT in Melbourne showed that we can compete on a national stage, coming together as a team to play an exciting brand of hockey and demonstrating just how far women’s hockey has come in ACT. Every person on the Women’s team deserves to be congratulated for the role they played on the ACT team, and the how they represented IHACT on and off the ice. With the quality of players, we have on this team and others playing in the ACT in the Women’s League, Sr. C and Sr. B the future of Women’s Hockey in ACT is very bright.
We are seeking expressions of interest for players and coaches who wish to participate in a Womens League Summer Season, which is due to kick off in early December!!!
Please fill out this survey for us so we can get an idea of how many people we have interested. More details about the season will be provided once we have your responses in.
