DIVISION 1 MEN
TIGERS 4 d WEST 2
WEST went into its Division 1 men’s grand final against Tigers with confidence, after a good win in last week’s final to make the Lower South East Hockey Association decider.
However, Tigers maintained its undefeated record for 2018 and claimed a 4-2 victory.
West started strong and had early chances, with best and fairest winner Jason Steen causing problems all over the field.
Steen gave West an early lead with a deflection into the goals.
Tigers’ Ben Weir was given the tough task of shutting down Chris Caliss, which he was able to do.
Weir was in the action at both ends and found himself on the post to deflect a well worked penalty corner to even the scores before half time.
The second half saw Tigers find its spark with Aaron Mengler shifting forward.
A nice ball from Lochie Nisbet found Mengler with space and he nailed a back-stick shot into the bottom corner to take the lead.
With Mengler’s confidence on the rise, West defenders Darren Vine and Gavin Robertson were in trouble.
To make matters worse, Steen went down with an apparent shoulder injury and although he would return, his effect on the game was lost.
It was not long before Mengler again found the ball and a slap shot between Mason Bird’s legs secured a two-goal lead for Tigers.
Tigers were now hungry for the kill and another penalty corner saw the first shot saved, but Nisbet pushed it back to goals where it hit a defenders foot and awarded a penalty stroke.
Mengler was quick to step up and take the shot, which found the backboard to put one hand on the premiership cup with only 15 minutes left.
With Tigers ready to celebrate, Darren Vine seized a chance up forward to bring the margin to 4-2.
Time ran out before the restart and Tigers claimed back-to-back premierships, with Mengler taking the best-on-ground honours.
DIVISION 1 WOMEN
WEST 10 d TIGERS 1
FROM a West perspective, Tigers entered the Division 1 women’s grand final as a somewhat unknown opponent.
Tigers added Division 2 best and fairest Kaitlyn Nisbet to its squad for the finals series and it was a new look for West to face.
But it made little difference on the day, as West edged out to a massive 10-1 triumph to take out the premiership.
The early minutes showed Tigers might be up for the challenge.
West held a slight advantage in possession, but Tigers defended well and created some opportunities of its own.
Cody Lewis gave West the lead in the fifth minute and though Tigers continued to defend well, the writing was on the wall.
West started to dominate all over the field and Michelle Clark and Gemma Ballintyne added to the scoreline.
West’s defence was led well by Carly Emerson and further goals to Angela Broad and April Hockey saw the game all but wrapped up by half time.
The eventual premiers took a 5-0 lead into the break and the forward pressure did not cease in the second half.
Ballintyne, Lewis and Georgia Mustey had all scored by the 10-minute mark.
Tigers’ Dana Jones moved back to defence and managed to somewhat stem the flow.
But without her up front the ball remained in the West forward line and Broad added another score before Chloe McKenzie capped off her debut season with a grand final goal.
Tigers never gave up and a penalty stroke goal from Nisbet gave it something to celebrate.
But in the end West was too strong and took out a comfortable win, with Lewis named as player-of-the-match.
