SOUTHS has already won its share of tight battles this season, but captain Jaz Hennessey hopes they have one more to come this Saturday.
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That is when she and her Souths team-mates will face St Pat’s in the Bathurst Women’s Hockey Association first grade grand final at the Cooke Hockey Complex.
Souths finished the regular season as minor premiers just ahead of the Saints, then downed them 3-2 in a hard fought major semi-final.
Hennessey feels those narrow victories reflect the season as a whole.
“It was a very even competition and while I haven’t seen the final table, there wasn’t many points between first and fourth,” Hennessey said.
“To have that calibre of experience and talent in our A grade comp, we’re very lucky. I think we’re very fortunate that we’re one of the two that made it.
“It [semi-final] was a very, very close game. We were unfortunate that the week before Ali Stanford did her leg … so we were down to 14.
“It was just fortunate my girls were able to dig deep and pulled it off. It was probably in the last 15 minutes of the second half that we scored the winner.
“They scored first and we equalised, then we were one up and they equalised.”
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It was a Sophie McCauley hat-trick which proved the difference in the first grand final qualifier and she once more shapes as a key for the decider.
Though losing Stanford – a player with a host of Premier League experience – was a big blow, Souths’ forward line of McCauley, Daisy Morrissey, Sam Porter, Emily Hurst and Nikki Tomlinson is still potent.
They helped the two blues score more times than any other side in the regular season.
“She’s [McCauley] come along leaps and bounds the last two years with her confidence, I’ve been very fortunate to say that I’ve been able to watch her grow into the player she is,” Hennessey said. “She’s just been brilliant, so we’re very lucky she’s on our team.”
The decider starts at 3pm.