Benalla Hockey Club was proudly represented in Goulburn Valley Hockey Association (GVHA) teams at Hockey Victoria’s Senior Country Championships, playing high level hockey at a wet Bendigo across the three days of the King’s Birthday long weekend.
Amber Armstrong provided some strong defence for the GVHA open women’s team, running out of the circle to meet the opposition’s ball carrier as a full back and forcing multiple turnovers as a half back.
The team had two disappointing losses on Saturday, backed up by a win against Sunraysia on Sunday morning as the team began to really gel.
Another win Sunday evening led into finals, where it drew against friendly rival NE Lightning to land a late playoff against East Gippsland to draw again and finish fourth overall.
Lee Manning played for the GVHA Masters women’s team, running hard in defence as a half back, then transitioning into attack as a wing.
After a loss to top-of-the-ladder Ballarat, it notched a 2-0 win Saturday night then drew 0-0 in an even game against Geelong.
Sunday afternoon saw Lee take a huge run down half the field as right wing, dodging Central Vic’s defence to take a shot on goal, which deflected off the keeper for Lee to short-pass to her teammate who slotted it in between the keeper’s legs to score.
Central Vic scored late to tie 1-1, holding GVHA in third position leading into semi-finals.
Monday was a highly competitive rematch of Sunday evening’s tie in the rain, with Central Vic outpacing GVHA.
This landed it in the playoff for third, with a lovely even game against Geelong to finish the tournament in third place.
Andrew Glazzard scored as a striker for his old home team Latrobe Valley Masters men, whose initial early win was followed by two losses then a narrow win leading into finals.
Monday saw them unlucky to lose 1-0 against Ballarat, but still land a place in the grand final match.
North Central was too strong, however, leaving Andrew with a silver medal for the tournament.