Diamonds and Thundersticks Wrap Up AHL Campaigns

The WA Thundersticks have concluded their Australian Hockey League campaign with a loss to Victoria in the grand final to finish second, whilst the Diamonds girls have finished on a high, winning their final two matches to finish in fifth place.

The Thundersticks made their way into the grand final after a tough match against the NSW Warratahs, coming down to a penalty shootout in order to decided the winner.

Both sides showed immense defensive pressure throughout the game reflective in their inability to score, the game finishing 1-1.

The shootout saw excellent goal keeping from WA’s Tyler Lovell, conceding only one goal.

This was aided by outstanding skill and placement by Aran Zalewski, Trent Mitton and Matthew Bird all scoring for the Thundersticks to give WA the win, with a 3-1 score from he shootout.

Through to the gold medal match the Thundersticks were set to take on the Victorian Vikings where things did not go quite to plan, the Western Australian side going down 3-5.

It was clear that the match between the two sides was on, right from the first whistle, with both sides attacking hard to reach the quarter break with two goals a piece.

Coming in to the second quarter, WA’s Chris Bausor put the Vikings under pressure forcing a save from the goal keeper.

This effort was followed up by the Victorian’s taking another goal of their own, giving them the lead heading into half time.

The Vikings came out strong in the third quarter taking another goal on the home side.

The Thundersticks received multiple penalty corner chances in the late stages of the third quarter, however they were unable to convert, enabling the vikings to maintain their lead into the final quarter.

Thundersticks captain, Chris Bausor, gave the side hope in the final quarter scoring his second goal for the match.

Unfortunately the Victorians went on to score another goal, cancelling out WA’s efforts and they then hung on to their lead for the remainder of the game.

The Thudersticks finished their AHL campaign in second place, winning five games and falling short on just two occasions. 

Despite falling just short of a semi-finals position, due to goal difference, the Diamonds have had a strong finish to their Australian Hockey League campaign.

In the first of their classification matches they took on the side from South Australia, coming away with a 2-1 win.

The Diamonds began the game well placing their opposition under pressure having had multiple attempts at goal in the first half.

It wasn’t until the beginning of the third quarter that the Western Australian side made their first conversion, through the work of Kathryn Slattery putting the home side in front.

The final quarter of the game saw the South Australian’s fight back scoring their first goal and placing both teams back on a level playing field.

This even score however was short-lived with Kathryn Slattery scoring her second goal of the game in order to give the Western Australians the match win.

Heading into a play-off for fifth place, the Diamonds took on Malaysia, defeating them 3-1.

In this game the team from WA marked their authority early with Jemma Buckley converting a penalty quarter just three-minutes into the match.

Following on from this the first quarter saw two more strong attempts at goal from the Western Australians.

The Malaysians made a strong counter attack in the second quarter, which was rejected by a superb over head save by Diamonds goal keeper, Ashlee Wells.

The third quarter saw the Western Australian side all but secure the win with Candyce Peacock and Roos Broek adding an additional goal each to the score board.

Despite Malaysia’s attempts in the final quarter they were only able to regain one goal, with Diamond’s maintaining control right until the final whistle.

The WA Diamonds completed their campaign with five wins and two losses, an equivalent win to loss ratio as the Victorian Vipers, who finished in second place.