The weekend's state women's open indoor hockey championships were a golden one for Tamworth.
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Shrugging off limited preparation, the team of Lara Taggart, Katrina Rekunow, Tahlia Rekunow, Gabbi D'Ambros, Prue Davies, Taneisha Donnelly, Hayley Lennon and Madeleine Lewin were crowned champions in Division 2 after beating Dubbo in the final.
Turning around a 2-all draw when they met during the pool stages, the Hayden Lewin-coached side were victorious 7-3 to cap off an undefeated campaign.
The draw was their closest result, notching wins over Nepean (2) (4-3), Manning Valley (6-4), Goulburn (2) (9-0) and Sydney East (7-1) to finish top of their pool and set up a semi-final match-up with Far South Coast on Sunday.
Playing for a spot in the grand final, Tamworth came out firing and by the third quarter were up 7-2.
"Unfortunately some miscommunication in defence and a lapse in team work allowed South Coast back into the game and they put four goals on us in quick succession," Lewin said.
"We were able to hold on though and secure a 9-6 win."
He said going into the grand final they spoke about "communication, respect and team work and how all our success had been built on patience and team effort."
"We rediscovered that form and started the grand final brilliantly taking an early 2-0 lead. From there, our confidence soared and we were never headed," he said.
He noted that all of their goals came through team work rather than short corners "which showed how far the team came together over the course of the weekend" after understandably being a bit rusty early.
"Our first game against Nepean (2) was very rusty and it took a while for the team to start to combine," he said.
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Against Manning Valley he said they started to show more composure in defence and combination in attack, and their short corner options also started to work.
"We were very happy to finish day one with two wins," Lewin said.
Facing Dubbo first-up on the second day he said they knew patience in defence was going to be a key for them.
"Dubbo held possession for the first two minutes of the game and were unable to get into our circle which gave us a huge confidence boost. Eventually Dubbo scored against us however we came back with two goals of our own to take the lead in the final quarter," he said.
But with under a minute to Dubbo converted a short corner to level the scores. From the restart Tamworth earned a short corner of their own but were unable to convert it.
They then beat the hosts to go into their final pool game against Sydney East knowing that a four goal win would secure them top spot on the ladder.
"We scored two goals in the first quarter of that game which gave us a good start," Lewin said.
They then finished with three in the last quarter.
Lewin said captain Katrina Rekunow really led from the front while Lara Taggart had a fantastic carnival in goals making a number of critical saves including a stroke in the Dubbo pool game.
"All other team members played outstanding hockey across the weekend and as a unit deserved their success," he said.
RESULTS
Friday: Tamworth 4 d Nepean (2) 3, Tamworth 6 d Manning Valley 4
Saturday: Tamworth 2 drew with Dubbo 2, Tamworth 9 d Goulburn (2) 0, Tamworth 7 d Sydney East 1
Sunday: Semi Final: Tamworth 9 d Far South Coast 6; Grand Final: Tamworth 7 d Dubbo 3