Diamonds and Arrows Share Spoils

The WA Diamonds played out a 1-1 draw with the NSW Arrows in round six of the women’s AHL competition in Perth.

Both the Diamonds and Arrows were in good form coming off wins against quality opposition in round five with WA defeating reigning premiers SA Suns and NSW upsetting top placed QLD Scorchers.

In a high tempo opening half, both teams seemed well rested after having a day off yesterday, resulting in some nice end to end hockey.

WA was able to score first when striker Caitlin Pascov was able to slot it past NSW Goalkeeper Toni Cronk at the 18 minute mark. Both teams had a number of chances late in the half with Cronk and WA Keeper Kate Hubble, forced into making some quality saves, meaning the teams headed into the interval with WA leading 1‐0.

The evenness of the game continued after the break, with the intense midfield battle of WA’s Kate Denning and Ashleigh Nelson (WAIS) going toe to toe with NSW Arrow’s Casey Eastham and Holly Webster, a definite highlight of the match. Both teams struggled to get off clean shots in the second half as the defences of each team were playing well.

At the 52nd minute mark, NSW Arrows managed to break through the Diamond defence with Emily Smith deflecting a strong pass past Goalkeeper Kate Hubble, to equalise for the NSW team.

In a tense and exciting last 10 minutes, both teams tried their best to find the winner but their efforts proved fruitless, as the defences held firm, resulting in both teams having to share the points from an extremely tight and amazing game of hockey.

– Hockey Australia