Benalla Hockey Club’s Lee Manning and Amber Armstrong played three days of Senior Country Championships hockey for the GVHA Open Women’s representative team.
Regional hockey players from around the state descended on Bendigo over the long weekend for the Hockey Victoria Senior Country Championships.
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Lee Manning and Amber Armstrong represented Benalla, playing for the Goulburn Valley Hockey Association Open Women’s representative team in four games across Saturday and Sunday.
With early morning matches in the deep fog they played Ballarat, West Gippsland, Maryborough and North-West Lightning’s under-18 squad, sadly losing all games.
The GVHA Open Women’s team came ninth at the State Country Championships. Photo: Brenton Thorpe.
Amber was a strong halfback and occasional fullback, forcing many turnovers along the sidelines and running through the midfield, with Lee also playing as half back making position and providing good forward momentum up towards the wings and inners into the circle.
Both defended well in the circle with Amber running out for many penalty corners, forcing errors before the other team could attempt to score.
On Monday morning the girls played East Gippsland, winning 1-0 to achieve ninth position.
Amber Armstrong (right) tightly defending the circle for East Gippsland in the fog. Photo: Lee Manning.
In the spirit of the Country Championships, Amber and four of the GVHA girls then joined in with the East Gippsland team so some of their players could leave early, winning their final game 1-0.
Lee also played for East Gippsland Masters team, losing the bronze play-off to come fourth.
Amber Armstrong runs a ball across goals. Photo: Lee Manning.
The GVHA Open Men’s team played well all weekend with some unlucky losses, while the GVHA Men’s Masters took home the silver medal.
All look forward to playing against their new teammates for the rest of the GVHA season.
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