Country Challenge Day 1: WA women and men go down to Australian Defence Force, NSW men hang on in tight finish

WA suffered losses on home turf in both the women’s and men’s division on day one of the 2022 Hockey Australia Country Challenge in Albany on Saturday. The national champions returned after a two-year COVID hiatus on Saturday as 12 teams hit the Albany hockey turf across six games on the opening day. Hockey WA general manager Graeme Hall officially opened the championships with City of Albany Mayor Dennis Wellington and Albany MLA Rebecca Stephens welcoming teams from across the country to the event. Women’s and men’s teams from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, WA and the Australian Defence Force were present for the ceremony. WA faced the ADF in their opening match on Saturday afternoon but two penalty corner conversions in the first half helped the ADF upset the home State. It took just six minutes for the ADF to find the back of the net, as Samantha Stevens fired home the opening goal. The ADF advantage was doubled in the second quarter when the hard-working Riley Smith converted her side’s fifth penalty corner of the game. WA captain Laura Archer tried valiantly to drag her side back into the contest and was well supported by Mel Baldwin and defender Zeta O’Rourke. The hosts won two penalty corners in the third term but couldn’t break the deadlock and their defensive unit was under constant pressure in the first-up defeat. Meanwhile the WA men’s team was unable to score a goal in a tense 1-0 loss to the ADF on Saturday night. In the final game of day one, neither side scored in the first three quarters before a tomahawk strike from Antony Doolan in the 49th minute handed the ADF victory. Two shots found the back of the net for WA but both were disallowed by the officials and Doolan netted his field goal early in the fourth to dent the home State’s momentum. WA captain Darren Parkes was superb in a losing affair while Nick Corner provided great run up forward. In the opening game of the tournament, NSW clung on for a tight win over Victoria in the women’s competition. Sarah White gave NSW the early lead before Merryn Coffey equalised for Victoria. White bobbed up to net a second field goal in the 33rd minute but her strike came at a cost as she limped off with a serious leg injury. Goals to Clare Bosman and then Priya Burke gave NSW a handy 4-1 lead in the final term but Victoria made things interesting in the last couple of minutes. Victoria flooded forward at all costs and Pippa Best pinched one back before just seconds later Jorgie Wright tapped home Victoria’s third. However NSW clung on to a 4-3 win with only two seconds left on the clock after Wright’s field goal. In the other women’s game a dominant second half was the catalyst for Queensland as they cruised to a commanding 5-0 win over SA. Tinesha Carey found the back of the net in the second minute through a penalty corner and they led by a single goal at the main break. Captain Samantha Morris (43rd minute) emerged early to put Queensland up by two goals and Carey once again scored in open play before Eve Kersnovske (50th minute) and Majella Barnes (59th minute) capped a terrific performance with two more field goal conversions. A thrilling second half shoot-out resulted in NSW narrowly edging out a resilient Victorian outfit in the opening men’s game of the tournament. Victoria’s Max Ferrier (13th minute) struck early through a penalty corner. NSW captain Brandan Horner bobbed up to slot home a penalty corner in the 38th minute and a 40th minute field goal. However Evan Douglas emerged to fire home a goal shortly after to level scores. NSW player Taylor Dolbel answered back with a goal from open play in the 54th minute to put his side up 3-2 with six minutes left to play. Liam Kerr-Nelson scored in the 58th minute but Horner completed his hat-trick in the 58th minute to cap a terrific performance as NSW held on for a 4-3 win. Meanwhile Queensland easily brushed aside SA with a convincing 5-0 triumph in the men’s division. Queensland were buoyed early as they were awarded a penalty stroke with Joshua McPaul making no mistake from the spot, putting his side up 1-0 early. It took until the second half for Queensland to hit the back of the net again, with Noah Gauci dispatching a strong strike past the SA goalkeeper. Gauci scored again before McPaul (52nd minute) and Callum James (57th minute) put the game beyond doubt.