Unfortunately for Bathurst they found themselves in the latter category at the Hockey NSW Open Women's Field State Championships over the weekend at Macarthur Hockey Complex.

In one of the closest division one battles seen in recent years, Bathurst finished fourth out of five teams in their pool but they were just one win away from playing for a gold medal.

Had Bathurst managed to get the better of Illawarra South Coast in their last pool game on Sunday then four teams would have finished level on two wins.

Bathurst's point differential would have put them in first place and into the championship match against North West Sydney 1.

Instead it was Illawarra who got the nod over Bathurst in a comeback 2-1 win.

Bathurst captain Tamsin Bunt said there were mixed feelings for the team after coming so close to a finals appearance in the top division.

"If we had won that game against Illawarra we would have been playing in finals. We were 1-0 up in that game ... but they beat us 2-1. We took our keeper off, we did everything we could to win that game," she said.

"That's how close the pool was. We were really playing well, getting wins and draws against Sydney teams that play together at club level. For us to be so close to them is a really big credit to us."

Bathurst did round out their campaign with a convincing 4-0 victory over Tamworth to secure seventh place overall.

They began their tournament on Saturday with a tough 1-0 loss to Nepean but bounced back in a big way with a 7-2 win over one of their Central West rivals, Orange.

Sunday started with a 1-all draw against Metro South West before the heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Illawarra South Coast.

"I thought in our game against Nepean we played quite well and put in a great performance. The only goal came from a penalty stroke so that was a game that we definitely could have won, and that could have changed our tournament," Bunt said.

"The Orange game we played well and we converted our opportunities. It was still a tough game but we knuckled down."

Sarah Watterson was a persistent goal scoring threat for the Bathurst squad, returning home with 11 goals to her name out of the 13 her team scored.

The other bright spot for Bathurst in the tournament was receiving the Respect For Officials award for being the team who spent the most time playing in the spirit of the game.

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