Northern talent figured prominently as NSW wrapped up a hugely successful 2018 Indoor Hockey Festival with gold and silver.
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Playing in her final tournament as a junior Tamworth’s Emily Chaffey led the under 18 women to a fifth gold of the festival.
The side which also contained Armidale trio Tahlia Constance, Sarah Askey and Meg Lye, defeated Queensland 4-1 in Thursday’s final.
The first of Liana Smith’s double gave NSW a 1-nil lead after just six minutes and they were never headed from there, slotting three goals in nine minutes early in the second half to assert their dominance on the contest.
Chaffey was NSW’s top goalscorer for the tournament with six, while Askey scored a double in their opening 14-nil win over Tasmania.
Lye also scored in that game, while Constance scored in the semi-final against Victoria, in which she was also named player of the match.
The Blues were undefeated for the championships, their closest result being a 1-all draw with Queensland.
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Armidale’s Luca Brown and his NSW men’s side meanwhile had to settle for silver, going down to Victoria 4-3.
In what was arguably one of the most outstanding performances of the festival, Matthew Barnett scored all four of Victoria’s goals to ultimately lead his side to victory.
Playing for ACT Armidale’s Cody McCann was among the tournament’s top goalscorers. He finished with four and was the equal best contributor for ACT.
