The Year 7-9 Mixed Hockey Team played in the State Finals in Week 3. Playing at MATE stadium at the State Hockey Centre.

Naracoorte first took on St Michael’s team. We initially conceded a goal and looked slow at the beginning of the opening quarter. The team lifted though, scoring the next 7 goals unanswered. It was great to see multiple goal scorers and players staying positive and supportive right through the game.

Winning in the first round meant that we progressed to the state grand final an hour later, playing for 1st in the state in 7-9 Mixed Hockey. We played against Henly High School, who had won their opening game solidly against St Marks. Again, Naracoorte started out slow, conceding two goals to start 0-2 in the opening quarter. The team started to lift but lost another goal early in the 2nd quarter to be down 0-3. Eddie scored later in the second to make it 1-3 and Naracoorte was starting to look stronger. Through the next few quarters many shots were taken on goal, but getting past the opposition’s keeper was a real challenge. Some great shots that could have drawn us level were deflected and were near misses.

By the fourth quarter we were 1-5 down but early in the fourth we scored to put us to 2-5 and then to 3-5 a short time later. Henley did score the last goal to put them 3-6. It felt like it could have been a closer scoreline from some of the excellent shots we got on goal but we were against a strong team which had lots of depth. We finished 2nd in the State and the team held themselves well in defeat. It was great to see the positive efforts right through the game and the team made us proud by persevering right to the end.

A big thanks to Sarah Fry for volunteering to coach the team, to Tom Haynes for driving a carload of students up alongside the minibus and for all the parents and family who came up to cheer on and support the team. Second in the state is an outstanding achievement that our team can be proud of. We hope to see an even bigger group of students keen to be involved in the mixed hockey in both Junior (7-9) and Senior (10-12) grades next year.