TWO Gerringong products have played starring roles in helping their respective New South Wales sides take out the two under 21s divisions at the Australian Indoor Hockey Festival.
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Held in Goulburn from January 18-22, Gerringong’s Joshua Mayo’s under 21 men’s side, started the tournament with a strong 3-2 win against ACT – with Mayo scoring the team's second goal in the 37th minute.
NSW backed it up later that day with a nail-biting 4-all draw with Queensland, with Mayo, who was skipper for this match, again finding his name on the score sheet with goals in the third and 28th minute.
The Blues suffer the exact same result, a 4-all draw, in their third match of the tournament against Western Australia – with Donovan scoring twice.
NSW finally returned to the winner’s circle in game four, where they smashed Tasmania 5-2 – a result that was followed up by convincing 6-1 thrashing of Victoria, in which Mackay and Donovan both found the back of the net.
After undefeated pool play, NSW took on Western Australia in the semi-final, a game they ran away with 8-5, after it was tied 2-all at the break.
The gold medal was secured for NSW in the final, where they used a second half surge to defeat Queensland 4-2 in the decider – seeing the team go one better than last year’s silver medal.
Joining Mayo in the NSW squad was Nowra’s Callum Mackay, former Burrowang player Jack Donovan, Riley Carr, Lain Carr, James Doherty, Issac Farmilo, Brinley Gallagher, Ehren Hazell, Daniel Jolliffe, William Orth and Connor Tuddenham.
Not to be outdone was former Gerringong junior and Kiama Downs local Keeleigh McCauley, who helped guide her NSW under 21s women’s side to glory at the same event.
McCauley’s side, featuring Chloe Barrett, Emma Corcoran, Abigail Doolan, Litiana Field, Kelsey Hughes, Sarah Johnston, Zoe Newman, Taylah Parker, Riley Smith, Taylor Thomson and Helena Tobbe, opened their tournament with a strong 7-2 thumping of Victoria, followed by wins against Queensland (6-nil), Tasmania (6-1) – a game which McCauley scored in the 13th minute, ACT (2-1) and Western Australia (5-1).
This set up a semi-final showdown against Victoria, which NSW won 5-1.
In the final, a Helena Tobbe goal in the first minute proved to be the difference as NSW defeated ACT 1-nil for the gold medal.
