LITHGOW hockey fans were treated to two brilliant games of hockey on Saturday, when the Lithgow Panthers won their way into the men’s and women’s Western Premier League hockey grand finals to be played at Bathurst this coming Saturday.
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Both Lithgow teams were up against Parkes with the Panther women winning 4-1 and men 6-4 in two high standard qualifying finals.
The Panther girls side was a different looking team than the one that lost the major semi the week before to Bathurst City.
Back was the crisp and precise passing with the Panthers playing a confident brand of hockey right from the opening whistle.
Scorers were Roxsanne Van Veen, Amanda Saladine (2) and Cheryn Van Veen while Cassandra Hodges was the lone scorer for Parkes.
Special mention goes to Panthers’ Tiffany Northey who made a rushed trip back from Mudgee where she was involved in the Group 10 Oz League semi finals with the Wolves to take her spot in the defence and played a great game for the Panthers.
Another who deserves mention is young Amy Capaldi who had been fighting a severe bout of the flu all week and in normal circumstances would have pulled out.
She was given the tough task of marking Parkes’ best player and she carried out coach Greg Banning’s game plan to the letter in a game display of courage.
The men’s final was one of the quickest seen at the Lithgow Hockey Complex with the Panthers calling on all their experience to defeat the fleet footed Parkes United team.
It was the game the Panthers needed going into next Saturday’s grand final against Bathurst St Pats who also play an up tempo style with the win giving the Lithgow side confidence that they can match the speed of St Pats.
It was a gutsy win by the Panthers who had a number of ‘walking wounded’ with a couple of their key players carrying leg injuries, but battled on for a great win.
The win will give the Panthers a chance to defend their title and add to their impressive list of victories they have built up over the past decade or so.
Scorers for Panthers were Travis Cameron (2), Ron Charlton (2) and Brandan Horner (2) with Parkes’ star Jack Elliott (3) and Andrew Bourke their scorers.
A full report on both games will feature in Thursday’s Mercury and for more action photos from the day check out the Mercury’s gallery www.lithgowmercury.com.au.