TAMWORTH As produced a sharp Northern Half-State U13s Championships finals display in Tamworth yesterday to secure the first title success of the year.
The Jess McKenzie-coached side was too powerful for Western Districts in the Division 2 final, running out 4-nil victors to take the spoils in front of a home crowd and gain re-entry to Division 1.
Sydney won the Division 1 title after coming from 1-nil down to topple North Shore 2-1.
They struck both goals in the second half, slotting the decider with around 10 minutes to go.
“They were really good,” Sydney coach Geoff Hayes said.
“They only had one goal scored against them and that was in the final.”
He said going behind 1-nil was a testing for them, but they rallied well with state squad selections Renae Delamotte, Greta Hayes, Tori Scanlon, Elie Eagle and Nicole Barley standing out.
By contrast, Tamworth was dominant in the Division 2 final.
They could easily have won by more than the four-goal margin they did, peppering the Western Districts goal with some brilliant play and launching a constant stream of penalty corners.
That they didn’t score more was a reflection on Western Districts’ defence.
Tamworth showed their intentions early and went 1-nil up through Dana Constable.
They then pushed 2-nil ahead when Brittany King put away a perfect cross from Tessa Pennefather after some great attack down the right hand side.
Caitlin McHugh then made it 3-nil early in the second half when she capitalised on some great stick work from Constable, weaving her way through the circle defence.
Samantha Moxon then completed the scoring with a nice tap-in on the left post.
“I’m very proud and very happy,” McKenzie said.
“They played with a lot more maturity than a lot of U13 teams and shared the ball around.”
The Tamworth Bs and two New England sides also competed in Division 2.