Benalla Hockey Club was well represented in multiple teams at Hockey Victoria’s State Country Championships, with some fantastic games played at the State Hockey Centre in Melbourne during the long weekend.
Lee Manning defended closely as a half-back and Erin Jenkins ran hard in the forward line for the Goulburn Valley Hockey Association Women’s A-team, which had two wins and two losses.
The Women’s A-team grand final was tightly contested, with GVHA maintaining a strong defence and was unfortunate not to score against Hockey Central Vic but it was happy with a fun game and taking home silver medals.
Ebony Jennings played for her home-team North Central, forcing multiple turnovers as a half-back and pushing up high into the circle, with two wins and two losses gaining them the play-off for Women’s B competition third place.
Amber Armstrong gained a place in the Northwest Lightning representative team, and proved her worth as a solid full-back, making her best plays intercepting the ball high and racing it back up towards goals. It also won two and lost two, sadly losing its play-off on Monday.
Marty Gillies was strong in defence, playing as a half- and full-back, with some nice runs forward and great shots in on penalty corners for the GVHA Men’s Masters team. They drew two and won one 5:0, then took out the gold 1:0, defending multiple penalty corners in the grand final against Hockey Central Vic.
Next Saturday’s round seven games in Shepparton:
- Under-10 vs GVGS — 9.30am
- Under-12 vs Echuca — 10.30am
- 16B Orange vs Benalla Black — 11.30am
- 16A vs Mooroopna — 12.30pm
- Men vs Echuca Moama — 2pm
- Women — Bye
