CONVERTING more circle penetrations into goals - that will be the focus for St Pat's as they prepare for a sudden death women's Premier League Hockey semi-final.
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St Pat's finished its regular season by posting a 1-0 win over Bathurst City on Saturday at Bob Roach Field, but it was a game in which they created plenty more scoring opportunities.
Had they managed just one more goal the Saints would have booked a place in the major semi-final against Lithgow Panthers. Instead Pat's will host Orange CYMS In a sudden death semi-final.
The 1-0 result saw the Saints finishing on the same amount of competition points and the same goal difference as Confederates, who beat Souths 4-2.
But as Feds had the better for record - the Orange outfit scored 16 times across six games and the Saints 13 - they were awarded second place on the ladder.
"We have just got to win them all now, we've got to beat the best teams," Saints coach Ben Weal said.
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Beating the best teams will require the Saints to show better composure than what they did against Bathurst City. It will also require shots which are aimed away from the reach of rival goalkeepers.
Bathurst City goalkeeper Maddy Tattersall blocked a whole host of shots aimed close to her pads, her coverage of the net excellent throughout the contest.
"We were pretty frustrated out there," Weal conceded. "I think we actually started real well and were all over them, but we just didn't take our chances.
"Maddy is a very good goalkeeper, you can't hit it straight at her because it's not going to go through her. She'll save anything near her.
"We spoke about trying to get the ball around her, but we didn't do that. We tried to slip it past her and she'll save those every day. I was getting quite nervous.
"So we created a lot of chances, but there were saves made, we didn't take those chances and it built on the frustration."
The game was six minutes old when the Saints earned the first penalty corner of the match and while they had three shots from the ensuing play - two off the the stick of Ella Davis, the other from Macey Fulton - Tattersall blocked them all.
Tattersall came up with a bigger play later in the quarter when finding herself in a one-on-one with Millie Fulton. Though her full length dive did not stop the young striker, it forced her wide enough for her attempt to miss.
Down the other end of the field St Pat's custodian Lilli-Rai Campbell made a nice block to turn away a shot from City skipper Bec Bosianek.
In the second quarter both goalkeepers were again up to the task when tested, meaning it was nil-all at half-time.
It took until 62 seconds into the final quarter for the match winner to come via a nice piece of individual talent from Millie Fulton.
She jinked the ball over the stick of Bathurst City defender Sarah McCusker, used her speed to create a one-on-one against Tattersall, then tucked her shot in from a tight angle.
"It was probably a good hit out for us before finals, you like to have a tough game going in. But absolutely we are going to have to be better than that," Weal said.
