2010 Grand Final Wrap-Ups
Grand Final Wrap-Up - Friday, 23rd September.
The Grand Final weekend commenced with our Under 15 Girls.
Having finished 2nd in the Preliminary Rounds and beating Wests in the Preliminary Final by 2 goals to 1 (courtesy of 2 goals scored by Ruby Daniel), there was a positive thought that we might be able to topple Harrington Park.
Unfortunately, this was not to eventuate. Our goalie, Sally-Ann picked up an injury playing in an earlier game and bravely tried to put this behind her. The girls tried as hard as they could, but went down 4-0 to the undefeated Minor Premiers.
Coach Tracey Rutten was delighted with the team's performances over the season and, together with the girls, are looking forward to reversing the result in 2011!
The Ingleburn Under 15 Juniors knew they were up for a contest!
We finished Minor Premiers. There was nothing between the us and Wests Falcons during the season proper. The Round 7 match went to Wests by 4-3, with Rounds 12 and 18 to us by 6-3 and 5-4. We lost the Major Semi Final to Wests by 2-1, beat the other Wests team by 4-0 in the Preliminary Final to set the stage for the Grand Final.
No-one was surprised with the standard of the match as it was fought out between 2 very even teams. It was 1 all at half time. Ben Andaloro scored our goal. The second half went from end to end. Both teams had the opportunity to seal the match but were denied by the defence. Wests scored late in the match, but try as we did, we were unable to send the match into extra time.
Coach Matt Harris was full of praise for his team and the way they played their hockey throughout the season. We hope 2011 will bring a different result!
It was now left to the Under 17 Gold team. Having beaten our Green team in the Major Semi Final to proceed straight to the Grand Final, we felt quietly confident.
Wests Gladiators dashed our hopes of an Ingeburn - Ingleburn Grand Final by winning the Preliminary Final against the Green team by 2-1.
The stage was set. Both teams threw themselves into another high quality match. The score at the end of regulation time was 1-1. The score was als 1-1 at the end of the sudden death extra time. The match moved to a Penalty Stroke play-off. It was 4-4 after the first set of 5 strokes, so we moved to Sudden Death Penalty Strokes. As we were following Wests in the order of taking the strokes, the pressure was intense!
Sadly for us, Wests ended up 6-5 winners in the end, but hockey was the real winner on the night.
The 2 Under 17 teams had the privilege of being coached by 3 of our 1st Grade players - Ben Poulton, Andy Carter & Casey Younie.
We hope they return to help reverse the result in 2011!
The night finished on a high note when we accepted the trophy for the Macarthur Hockey Association Junior Championship that we won in 2009 and successfully defended in 2010.
Grand Final Wrap-Up - Saturday Morning, 24th September.
Grand Final Saturday started with 5 contenders - Under 11 Junior, Ladies B & C Grades, and Mens 1st & 3rd Grades.
At 9am, the mighty Ingleburn Bulldogs Mastiffs began the charge. We finished 2nd to the undefeated Macarthur Skylarks in the regular season but had sprung what many would call a major upset when we convincingly defeated them 5-1 in the Major Semi Final. Would we be able to reproduce this form again in the Grand Final? Coach Jo Mercer was very confident they could!
Her faith in the team was rewarded by 4 goals to Lauren Mercer, 2 to Emma O'Brien and 1 to Riley Maginn-Dawson to out score the favourites by 7 goals to 4. Jarred Papworth (in his first season of hockey and still in our Under 9's) made a huge impact on the game, setting up a number of the goals. The whole team can be exceptionally proud of their achievement!
1 from 1 today in Juniors, 4 more opportunities later in the Seniors.
Grand Final Wrap-Up - Saturday Afternoon, 25th September.
C Grade Ladies were next at 12.00pm.
After winning C Grade in 2007 and struggling in B Grade for 2 seasons, Ingleburn Knights returned to the C Grade competition in 2010.
We finished Minor Premiers. Easts Red were our opponents in the Major Semi Final. In a closely fought match, the scores were locked at full time and the end of sudden death extra time. So, we proceded to a penalty stroke shootout. Easts won the match 5-2. Claudia Hartas scored our 2 goals.
So, we had to reach the Grand Final the hard way! After beating Wests Vipers in the Preliminary Final in a closely fought match by 3 goals to 2, a re-match against Easts was on again for the premiership. Lynette Donaldson scored a well timed double and Claudia Hartas chipped in with the 3rd goal.
The Grand Final was a very closely fought contest! Jo Davis scored the winning goal, to the elation of all her teammates.
2 up, 3 to go. A tale of fluctuating fortunes for 2 teams was to follow! 1.30pm saw 3rd Grade Gold Dogs and B Grade Ladies do battle.
B Grade Ladies were Minor Premiers. Gold Dogs finished 2nd.
B Grade won their Major Semi Final aganist Easts easily. Gold Dogs struggled a little against City, but only went down 5-3.
Gold Dogs won their Preliminary Final against Wests Cheetahs easily.
B Grade was missing Kaitlin Giri and Sally-Anne was still troubled by her earlier injury.
City were missing 4 key players due to the National Vets Championships.
Wests Pythons had come from 4th place to gain a place in the Grand Final.
In the B Grade Grand Final, Wests got out to an early lead. Despite goals by Jo King and Amanda Hasler, we were unable to bridge the gap. A late (possibly equalising) goal being denied didn't help our cause. The girls never gave up - a trait they had shown all season.
Coach Smitty went into bat for his team after the final siren.....
2 up, 1 down, 2 to go.
With City down a couple of key players, we were quietly confident that we had a great chance to take the 3rd Grade title after going so close in 2009. In my 30+ years with Ingleburn, I had yet to play in a premierships winning team. We were all nervous!
Keeping to the game plan, the Gold Dogs controlled the match. Dougie scored a ripper to boost our confidence. Chris Flack scored early in the 2nd half. This ultimately turned out to be the match winner. Chris was also rewarded for his excellent season by being named the Best and Fairest Player for the team.
Midge upset Mr Potato Head in a medal winning performance. This selfless act of bravery not only lifted the boys, but was also later duly recognised at the presentation night in a side-splitting speech from Wazza!
City scored with 3 minutes to go. The nail biting started. The siren sounded. The boys were elated!
Wazza is truly right - the beer does taste better in a bigger mug! Wazza also saw the world from a different perspective very late in the evening!
3 up, 1 down, 1 to go.
The scene was again set for 1st Grade. We were up against Wests in a Grand Final for the 6th time in the past 4 years.
We were almost at full strength. We were keen to repeat last year's performance!
We scooted out to an early 2-0 lead through goals to Boggy and Jono Scott. Wests immediately replied to bring the gap back to 1-2. Boggy had other ideas. He scored a blinder to take us to half time with a 3-1 lead.
Dave scored early in the second half to take us to 4-1. Josh was yellow carded and Wests sensed a chance. 2 quick goals saw the score move to 3-4. The match was on in earnest!
Boggy came to Ingleburn from Wests this season and was not about to sit back and be on the losing side again! His hat-trick, via a deft deflection broke West's spirit and a 5-3 lead with only 5 or so minutes left.
Taylor, who had spent the vast majority of the match watching, had a lot of pent-up energy to expend in a short amount of time! He scored an absolute bell ringer high into the left corner to seal the match 6-3.
4 up, 1 down....not a bad day's work!
At the end of the day we accepted the awards as winners of the Macarthur Hockey Association Ladies, Mens and Club Championships for season 2010. A great achievement.
A very late night was had by all who were at the Carter residence to celebrate!
