Congratulations to all members on their participation in the 2014 U15 and U18 National Championships.
The U18 Women’s Championships saw Emma Hatton playing in the Victoria Blue (1) team. The team finished with 2 wins and 1 draw, which was enough to put them into the Bronze Medal match. A good start in the match saw Victoria score first, and Victoria managed to hold out ACT for a 3-2 win and a Bronze Medal. This is a great effort as Emma was one of the youngest players in the team.
The U18 Men’s Championships Victorian Blue and White teams included Mack Dolenc, Ryan Parry, Will Crosbie and James Humphries.
Both teams struggled to play all matches to their full potential, but the players enjoyed the experience. The Victoria (1) team with Ryan and Mack, had 3 wins and 1 draw in their pool matches but lost the semi-final to Queensland 2-4. They then faced WA in the Bronze Medal final and although they had drawn 2-2 in their pool game, failed to improve on that and lost 5-1. A couple of nasty injuries to Victorian players in that game didn¹t help.
Ryan and Mack both played well during the Championships. Ryan always looked dangerous around goals and finished with 4 himself, and Mack’s attack on the ball was outstanding.
Will Crosbie and James Humphries were part of the Victoria (2) team, and although the team had some very tough matches, the final match finished as a draw which went to a penalty shoot out to decide the winner.
Congratulations to Gus McKinnon and the Victorian U15 Boys team who finished with a silver medal. Gus reports that he enjoyed the tournament immensely, learned heaps and worked super hard. The team ended the tournament with 3 wins and 2 draws and played in the final against NSW. A fantastic game saw Victoria finish with a very close loss 4-3, in a match where the result could have gone either way for the whole game! A well deserved Silver medal was the result, the best result for Victoria for a while!
The team was presented with their medals by (Victorian) Kookaburras players – Chris Ciriello, George Bazeley, Glen Simpson and Russell Ford.
A great effort by all – with much to look forward to in future.
