Legend-laden teams fight for finals glory

The race for spots in the gold medal matches is heating up in the Bevan George and Kobie McGurk Cups, with sides across the board in with a chance to fight for glory on Sunday 31 October at Perth Hockey Stadium at Curtin University.

In the Kobie McGurk match up between the Highlanders and Breakers on Thursday, the Highlanders ran away with a closey-fought 2-1 victory.

The Highlanders opened the scoring halfway through the first quarter through a goal from Jodie Mellor. Both teams fought a tough contest until the dying minutes of the third quarter when Highlanders' Lauren Austin found the back of the net through a rocketing penalty corner strike.

The Breakers managed to pull one back in the final quarter through Jo Muntz but fell short of scoring points.

In the Bevan George Cup, the Highlanders made their claim for a finals spot after defeating the Outbacks 2-1 following a first round loss to the Breakers; the Outbacks now remain winless heading into the final round.

The Highlanders opened the scoring early in the first few minutes of the match with a fantastic overhead pass landing in the lap of Aaron Batten who flicked it past the keeper to put his side in front. 

In a tough contest for both sides, the Outbacks finally pulled back the score in the dying seconds of the third quarter, with Matt Harper scoring off a penalty corner.

With five minutes to go in the last quarter, it was Fremantle Cockburn’s club stalwart Darryl McCormick who snatched back the lead though a fantastic goal to give the Highlanders the win.

The action continues from 12:00pm on Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 October at Perth Hockey Stadium at Curtin University.

RESULTS 

Women’s Highlanders 2 def. Breakers 1 

Goals: 

Highlanders – Lauren Austin, Jodie Mellor 

Breakers – Jo Muntz 

Men’s Highlanders 2 def. Outbacks 1 

Goals: 

Highlanders – Aaron Batten, Darryl McCormick 

Outbacks – Matt Harper