THE Loddon Murray Hockey Club claimed two premierships on grand final day, with its B Grade women and A Grade men both tasting success.
Both sides went into their matches as underdogs, with the B Grade women, who were aiming to defend their title, starting the day off in a showdown against undefeated minor premiers, Sandhurst.
The teams were evenly matched for the first 10 minutes of the match, before Loddon Murray settled into the game by attacking strongly whilst allowing the Sandhurst forwards very little opportunity to take the ball into their goal circle.
Hannah Gesch opened the scoring for Loddon Murray, running through the opposition.
The forward line and half backs continued to press hard into attack, and created many scoring opportunities.
After forcing a short corner, Amy Salter doubled Loddon Murray’s lead, popping the ball in after a scramble in front of the goal.
Sandhurst rallied before half-time, with Nikita Bicknell scoring after a short corner, but Loddon Murray held a 2-1 lead at the main break.
Loddon Murray dominated from the start of the second half, with
Alison Voss making the score 3-1 thanks to one of her renowned reverse stick shots, with continued pressure on turnovers enabling Gesch to secure the 4-1 win with a tomahawk shot.
The club’s A Grade men faced a similar scenario in its grand final against competition leaders, Strathdale.
Both teams had scoring opportunities in the first half, but in the early stages of the game were unable to get through the strong defence and goalkeeper.
Craig Conn’s efforts in the last line of defence stood out, after he decided to play despite suffering a knee injury the day before the match.
Conn received plenty of support through John Lazarou, who was unbeatable in any tackles he took on.
Strathdale scored the first goal for the match with five minutes remaining in the first half, but Loddon Murray equalised thanks to a goal from James Ginnivan – set up by Mike Judes’ stick skills in two successive short corners – in the final play of the period.
The second half was event filled, with a yellow card to a Strathdale player, Loddon Murray captain Mitch Copland finally wearing out his old shoes, and Josh Pryor levelling the yellow card score with one of his own.
Nick and Josh Pryor led the way during the half, with Jerem Gesch giving Loddon Murray the lead with 12 minutes to go thanks to a run down the field and a rebound goal after Mick Baker’s shot hit the post.
Strathdale levelled the scores with four minutes to go after forcing a short corner and penalty stroke, with the result being two-all at full-time.
The match came down to a penalty shootout, with Conn saving all four of Strathdale’s attempts.
Anders Hird gave Loddon Murray the lead, with Adam Gardiner – who was the fourth player to step up to the D – receiving a penalty stroke after being knocked by Strathdale’s goalkeeper. Mike Judd took the shot, which gave Loddon Murray the 4-2 win.
