Geraldton claim country week crown while Central Coastal fall just short in division four

Mid West hockey associations enjoyed strong performances at the weekend’s country week championships, with Geraldton crowned the top region of WA hockey.

Geraldton defeated Upper Great Southern to claim the 2023 CBH Group Women’s Country Championships division one title in a thrilling grand final clash.

With the sides at a 0-0 deadlock heading into the final moments of the match, Geraldton earned a long corner with 30 seconds to go that was rocketed into the circle by Lauran Newman as Sienna Norgett finished it off to snatch the victory just moments before the final buzzer.

The title win for Geraldton did not come without its challenges, with the side from the Mid West narrowly defeating Lower Great Southern 4-3 in shootouts after a full-time score of 1-1 in the semifinal.

Dirranie Kirby was named player of the tournament for her work in goals and marshalling the defence.

“We didn’t go in with much expectations which probably helped us settle in the end,” she said.

“I had a busy weekend in goals but the young side we took up just improved with every game and it was such an exciting feeling to come away with the win in the final.”

Central Midlands Coastal Hockey sent two sides down to compete in division four with the pool A squad finishing top of the group with three wins and a draw to Busselton, who finished top in pool B.

The two would meet in the final with Busselton narrowly defeating Central Midlands 2-1 in their grand final to take the bragging rights.

Central Midland’s pool B side had a mixed tournament finishing with two wins one loss and a draw but demolished Avon 4-0 in their play-off final to finish a respectable fifth.

North Midlands sent one team in division three finishing second in pool B.

They had a win against Eastern Avon 3-2 and drew with Avon 1-1 before falling to a 1-0 loss to Lower Great Southern, who went on to become undefeated champions.

In the third-placed play-off North Midlands went down to Peel 3-0 to finish the tournament in fourth.

Across the masters divisions, Geraldton finished fourth in division one with one win and two draws. North Midlands finished fifth with three draws from five games while Geraldton could only manage one draw to finish in sixth.

Attention quickly turns to the men’s competition, which starts this Friday at Perth Hockey Stadium.