ACT U18 SILVER MEDALLISTS
Published Fri 10 Jan 2025
ACT U18 MEN SECURE SILVER MEDAL AT INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
The ACT U18 Men have secured another medal in the 3rd Indoor Nationals for the 24/25 Season at the National Hockey Centre, going down 2-1 to Victoria in a nail biting grand final.
The team went through the tournament undefeated leading into the grand final match after placing the top of their pool after winning their quarter and semi final matches. They were put to the test in their semi final against QLD going to shootouts where Goal Keeper Cameron Brick made some crucial saves and Aiden Hellyer slotted into two rockets to take the win for the men and locked them into the Grand Final.
Fridays final was an incredibly close match with both teams remaining scoreless in the first quarter before VIC slotted in a shot from a penalty corner to take the lead in the 25th minute. Going into the half time break 1-0 down, the men had to hold their composure and rebuild to keep them focused. They continued to build until Vic slotted in a field goal to push to a 2-0 lead in the 36th minute. The men were commmitted to push to the end and fired back with a penalty corner with Aiden Hellyer slotted it in to close the gap, 2-1.
The game went all the way until the final siren with the men securing another penalty corner on the final siren but were unable to convert. Final score 2-1 VIC.
The U18 Women had a slower start to their tournament going down in their first match of the tournament before gaining momentum with a mixed variety of results to see them finish 3rd in their pool. They fought hard in their quarter final with a very unlucky penalty corner against on the final siren kept NSW in the game which took the match to a 3-3 scoreline at full time, taking them into shootouts, where they fell just short and closed the door on their medal match journey. They won their next two matches which saw them finish in 5th place overall. They had an incredible tournament and Hockey ACT are proud of the level the athletes are at and are building to be.
The indoor action continues at Lyneham over the next 2 weeks with the U14's from the 11-14th and U16's from the 15th - 19th of January.
Results:
Men:
Gold Medal: ACT 1 (Aiden Hellyer) - VIC 2
Women:
5th Place: ACT 3 (Jade Norwood, Ellie Challenger & Rachel Azzopardi) - WA 1
