SAM Brown made her final Astley Cup game for Bathurst High School one to remember as her hat trick helped guide the home side to a 4-0 victory over Dubbo Senior College on Wednesday.
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Despite valiant efforts in defence Dubbo didn't have much of an answer for Brown's pace and skill with the ball, with her highlight being a solo goal which came at the end of a run that covered two thirds of the field.
It was a memorable game as well for Lacey Carter on Bob Roach Field, who scored in her Astley Cup debut.
The win for Bathurst came after the two schools split the points evenly in the tennis, thus giving the home side a 133 to 67 lead heading into the day's two soccer matches.
"It was a great game from the girls. It was a strong team game," Bathurst coach Daisy Morrissey said.
"We've had a few strong games recently in the Western Region Knockout. We've got a diverse team too, with seven year 12 girls right through to two year 8 girls, and a few soccer players in there.
"I think those last couple of games in the Western competition have helped to bring us together as a team, and you could see how much the team came together in today's game."
Morrissey said it was a treat to watch Brown lead the Bathurst side from the front.
"Sam's a huge asset for us and we'll certainly miss her when she leaves. Her confidence is improving so much and she's playing some of the best hockey that she's ever played," she said.
Bathurst got off to a solid start and earned themselves a penalty corner in the eighth minute.
While that wasn't successful it took the team less than a minute to get on the scoreboard when Brown found her first goal from a testing angle on the right side.
Just two minutes later the hosts doubled their advantage when Carter deflected a pass into the back of the net.
Dubbo nearly scored against the run of play in the 14th minute when a shot narrowly missed to the left of the Bathurst goal.
Bathurst dominated the end of the 30-minute half without reward, and at one stage they had four successive penalty corners with no result.
Dubbo played their best hockey over the first 10 minutes of the new half, making several circle penetrations and getting away several shots on goal.
However, once Bathurst made it through that challenging period their started to take back momentum.
Brown almost ran the length of the field for a solo goal in the 42nd minute before her shot was stopped.
It was a case of 'if at first you don't succeed then try again' as Brown repeated that effort seven minutes later, this time scoring at the end of her big run to secure the result for Bathurst.
Brown made the victory even sweeter five minutes out from full-time when she slapped home another goal from close range to complete her hat trick.
The 4-0 win gave Bathurst an 83-17 split of the points.