THE NSW Arrows side featuring Bathurst players Rachel Miller and Tamsin Bunt has claimed the Australian Hockey League title after a brilliant come-from-behind effort against the Queensland Scorchers on the weekend.
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The Arrows were staring at defeat when they slipped two goals behind with 14 minutes to play in the first half.
But, they clawed their way back into the game by half-time and went in front early in the second and were able to hold out their opposition.
“It was a very exciting result, especially the way we had to earn it,” Miller said.
“We had a bit of luck in some respects. We were probably in the easier pool to begin the tournament, whereas Queensland had things a bit harder early on.
“They are a very good side and they’re always physically tough to play against. They’re a bigger team than we are and can be quite intimidating at times.”
Having gone through the preliminary rounds of the tournament undefeated, the Arrows had every right to be confident leading into the decider, but they would have also been fully aware of Queensland’s pedigree. The defending champions shared a 1-all draw in their initial meeting with neither side able to take too many bragging rights.
In their last chance to prepare for Saturday’s final, the Arrows faced Victoria on Friday night and, though they weren’t at their absolute best, they still carried their momentum into the final.
A single goal in the first minute of the game to Jade Close was enough to earn the victory as the scoreboard attendant sat idle for the remainder of the game.
It left the Arrows with a four wins, one draw record as they approached the decider.
Bunt started the match while Miller came off the bench after four minutes.
The hosts came out firing in the gold medal game, played over four 15 minute quarters, as they looked to make it back-to- back crowns, and though it took them 20 minutes to crack the NSW defence, they made sure it counted.
Jordyn Holzberger put Queensland in front and just a minute later Jodie Kenny added a second to put her side in the driver’s seat.
The looming siren at the end of the third term, however, seemed to spark NSW into action and from nowhere they produced three goals in four minutes either side of three-quarter time to turn the contest on its head.
Emily Smith halved the deficit before levelling the score two minutes later and just a minute into the final period Mariah Williams scored the winner for the Arrows.
For her exploits, Kenny took the top scorer award with nine goals in the competition – five ahead of her nearest challenger – while NSW Arrows captain Casey Eastham was named player of the tournament and player of the final.
“It was a pretty scary situation to be in, down 2-0, but in the quarters system it probably worked to our advantage because we got more breaks and were able to calm things down and gather ourselves more regularly,” Miller said.
“Those two goals in the third and another one early in the fourth got us to the lead and we were somehow able to hold on. It was a really good grand final.
“I was very happy with the minutes I got, I played a lot of hockey alongside Tamsin in defensive mid-field and I think we both played our roles the way we needed to.”