WA Falls Short of Semi-Finals in 2017 AHL
Western Australia’s men’s and women’s teams have missed the semi-finals at the 2017 Australian Hockey League in Perth.
With the carnival being held at the Perth Hockey Stadium in Bentley, both the men’s Thundersticks and women’s Diamonds fell narrowly shy of berths through to the business end of the tournaments.
The Thundersticks opened their campaign with a 3-1 win over the Northern Territory before being pegged back by a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Indian development team.
Hopes of progressing were restored after a thrilling 3-2 win over the ACT but a 2-1 loss to NSW in their final pool match – having led 1-0 for much of the contest – proved costly.
NSW and India advanced from Pool B, where they will be joined in the semi-finals by Victoria and Queensland who earned progression from Pool A.
The Thundersticks will now contest the 5th – 10thseeding pool, where they will face matches against; ACT, New Zealand development, Northern Territory, South Australia and Tasmania.
The WA Diamonds followed a similar path to the Thundersticks, rounding out their pool campaign with two wins and two losses.
WA overcame a two-goal deficit to defeat ACT 4-2 in their first clash and made it two wins from as many matches after accounting for the Northern Territory 5-0.
A defeat against Queensland (4-2) still left qualification in WA’s hands – needing a draw in their final match against the New Zealand development squad – however a 1-0 defeat saw them miss progression.
NSW, NZ, Queensland and Victoria will play-out the semi-finals, whilst WA face seeding matches with; ACT, India development, Northern Territory, South Australia and Tasmania.