A scintillating first quarter display from NSW State has helped the girls in blue claim the gold medal in the Under 15s Australian Championships at the Cooke Hockey Complex on Thursday.
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NSW State was up against Western Australia Gold in the decider, with the two teams having been held to a 3-all draw back on Sunday, but NSW flew out the gates to be 3-0 up after just 10 minutes.
And while Western Australia pulled it back to just one goal on two different occasions, it was NSW State that would see the game out winning 5-3.
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NSW State captain and Bathurst junior Lily Kable said the win was one of the best feelings of her life.
"It's the best feeling ever," she said.
"The team deserves it so much, with all the work we've put in. That game was a great game. It was tough for WA but we really put in the work to win it.
"It's probably one of the best moments in my life. It's just the best, just an honour and the best feeling for me and the team. I'm really stoked."
NSW State scored the opening goal within five minutes through the stick of Taylah Jones and just a minute later, the girls in blue doubled the score via Ziggy Leong.
Martina Williams would then make it 3-0 on the 10 minute mark, leaving the Western Australian team rattled.
However, the westerners didn't give up and Georgia Hiskins pulled one back in the second quarter to give her team hope of a fight back.
And two minutes into the third quarter, Western Australia had scored again via the stick of Sienna Robson.
NSW State responded quickly to re-establish a two-goal buffer three minutes later when Williams, who would finish the competition as joint top goal scorer with eight, scored her second goal of the match.
But Western Australia wouldn't go away, with Ellie Samsa scoring three minutes later to reduce NSW State's lead to one goal. There were no more changes to the score in the third quarter and NSW State went into the short break up 4-3.
Grace Jones would score for NSW State three minutes into the final quarter to make it 5-3 and that's how the score would remain until the final buzzer.
Kable believes Western Australia got back into the game because her team had lost its structure, but said coach James Birkefeld was able to help turn it around.
"I think we lost our structure and our momentum, just getting a bit antsy thinking we were going to win," she said.
"WA's attacking game was really strong in the second and third quarter and their defence was really on but James just talked to us and we got our focus again."
For the NSW Blue team, the state's development team, it won its play-off for ninth against ACT on Thursday too.
ACT had opened the scoring via Rachel Azzopardi in the first quarter, before Naia Lopez equalised in the second quarter and captain Lara Drennan scored the winner in the third quarter.
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