Cavs seal unbeaten under-19 campaign with grand final glory
The pressure was on to ice an unbeaten campaign, and it took all of the Cavaliers’ mental resolve to hold off a plucky Waratah in Saturday’s under-19 TNL grand final.
Sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The nerves were jangling before the game that matters most, but Cavaliers held off a plucky Cripps Waratah 46-41 to seal an unbeaten charge to the under-19 TNL premiership on Saturday.
Cavaliers headed into the grand final at the Silverdome as strong favourites after winning all 14 regular season games, before accounting for Waratah in the qualifying final.
Led by a player of the match display from skipper Eva Lockwood in centre court and a hugely influential game from defender Paige O’Neill, the Cavaliers withstood multiple surges from the visitors to get the job done.
Scores were level at quarter time and half-time after Waratah closed each term well, but a surge either side of three quarter time ultimately proved decisive for Cavaliers.
Cavs coach Lynda Colgrave admitted it was tough for the side to avoid dwelling on the pressure of entering the decider unbeaten, but said their composure was key.
“It’s relief I guess. We’ve had such a great season and I feel like we deserved to win but sometimes the team doesn’t always win on grand final day,” she said.
“We knew the nerves would hit early, and being level at half time was about the start we expected.
“They’re a class act, they’ve got lot of young players as well and the rivalry will be on for young and old for years I reckon.”
Colgrave pinpointed the move of O’Neill from goal-defence to goal-keeper in the second half to shut down the dominance of Waratah shooter Matilda Franklin was crucial.
Hannah Crawford also played a major role in the shooting circle off the bench after starting goal-attack Sopie Blackberry suffered an early ankle injury.
“I think the big move was to push Paige O’Neill to goal keeper and Molly Green to goal defence,” Colgrave said.
“Their goal shooter was too dominant and we had to do something about that.”
Lockwood said the focus was to stick to the processes which have stood up in a dominant campaign as Waratah continued to press hard and test their mental fortitude.
“We knew they would come out strong, they’re a really good team with good endurance,” she said.
“We had to keep chipping away with our game plan, keep valuing the ball and hopefully things fall into place.”
“She (O’Neill) was a big change for us. We were struggling with their height so her moving back to goalkeeper changed their attacking momentum.”
School teacher’s remarkable rise to hockey’s big time
Four months ago, Holly Gilbar quit her job as a school teacher in Toowoomba to chase her hockey dream in Tasmania. This is the story of her remarkable rise to a Hockey One League debut.
Coach tracker: Magpies’ Premier League status assured after Deloraine debacle
Scottsdale is still searching for a coach, and sought ressurances from the NTFA their Premier League status wasn’t in jeopardy after the league secretly investigated replacing Deloraine with Bridgenorth. Get the latest on coaching movement in the north here.