Men’s Masters 45s B North West Premiers 2014
Last night the Men’s Masters 45s (B Grade North West) Premiership game was held at Greensborough, with the mighty Gunners taking on long-time rivals Yarra Valley Hockey Club.
The La Trobe University Hockey Club Men’s Masters had an incredibly successful first year in entering the competition, starting in C Grade and quickly being promoted to B Grade due to a clean sheet in the early rounds. Although the competition became fierce, the Gunners managed to fight their way into second place, a remarkable achievement for their first year playing at this level.
The Semi-Finals saw the Masters meet a top-of-the-ladder Geelong, previously unbeaten until the lads managed to snag a win in the dying moments of the game. Geelong would go on to lose again against Yarra, pushing the two rivals into the Premiership game last night.
Yarra came out strong, scoring the first goal and setting themselves up for a strong first half. La Trobe returned fire just before half time, leading into the second half with a 1-1 draw. Strong work across the field saw us score again, only to have Yarra return strike. La Trobe put the pressure on dominating the middle with Yarra unable to hold on, eventually score winning goal, sealing the Premiership for 2014.
The is the first time in the Club’s history the Masters has included two teams, with plans to continue growth in future seasons including establishing a Women’s grade. We suspect this will not be the only entry into a growing Premiership collection from this team.
This weekend also sadly saw the Men’s 3s go down to a strong Powerhouse, and the Women’s 4s lose a very tight 0-1 against Melbourne University. In a strange turn of events, due to a permit technicality, the Women’s game result was overturned and the ‘La Trobe Ladies’ progress through to the Grand Final this weekend against Kew.
GRAND FINAL FIXTURE
– Women’s Metro 1 (Metro 1 South East) against Kew at Camberwell 2:30pm Saturday