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THERE was a double celebration when Lithgow’s Cheryl Rutherford returned from the Women’s Masters Australian Hockey Championships held in Brisbane, bringing home a gold medal and also being named in the Australian over 55 Masters team to contest the World Cup in Canberra in March next year.
Rutherford has been one of the mainstays in Masters teams for a number of years and her selection was a reward for all the work she puts into the game she loves.
On her way to the gold medal, results were as follows:
VERSUS QUEENSLAND NO 2: In the preliminary rounds, the Over 55 NSW team met the Queensland No 2 side in warm conditions.
Rutherford opened the scoring for NSW early in the match from a rebound off the goalie.
NSW were on a roll and scored their second goal shortly after and sealing the match with a third just before full time.
VERSUS VICTORIA: NSW were not at their best in what was a scrappy game, but battled on to put one goal past the keeper who played well, winning 1-nil.
VERSUS WESTERN AUSTRALIA: NSW went into the match better prepared than the previous day knowing Western Australia were capable of causing an upset.
The defenders linked with the midfield who in turn linked with the strikers.
The match was a crowd pleaser with a goal scored in both halves.
A violent thunderstorm interrupted play 12 minutes out from full time due to lightning.
As the match had commenced two hours previously, the game was ceased.
NSW defeated Western Australia 2-nil which was the score when play was interrupted.
VERSUS QUEENSLAND NO 1: NSW attacked for the first 20 minutes and looked as though they were clearly on top of the opposition.
From the stats taken in the game, NSW had 17 circle penetrations to Queensland’s three, but when the full time bell had sounded, Queensland had won the game 3-nil leaving NSW to wonder just what had happened.
VERSUS SOUTH AUSTRALIA: NSW lifted their game, controlling the ball from the opening whistle and outcomes in the circle with NSW winning 3-nil with Rutherford adding to her goal tally.
FINAL SERIES: At the end of the preliminary rounds, NSW were placed second.
In the final series, first place played fourth and second place played third.
This put NSW doing battle against Victoria.
NSW opened the scoring with Victoria equalising shortly after.
Against the run of play, Victoria popped in another goal just before the break.
NSW now had to play smart hockey to equalise.
Within the first few minutes back on the turf, NSW were awarded a penalty corner.
The ball was touched by five NSW players before it went into the net to even up the scores.
Victoria defended for the remainder of the match with the majority of their players in the 23 metre area, which made it extremely difficult to score.
FINAL: As NSW were higher on the points table, this put them straight into the final against Queensland.
In 29 degree heat, NSW now had their chance to turn the tables against Queensland.
NSW looked stronger and faster than their earlier meeting.
NSW opened the scoring, however, just before half time Queensland were awarded a penalty corner and a deflection was put past the postie making the score 1-all.
The mood in the change room was solemn, but their coach was positive that they could come back.
Back on the pitch, NSW mounted several attacking raids.
A ball was hit across the face of the goal and Rutherford slotted the ball home past the keeper to make the score 2-1.
NSW were on a high but knew that they had to keep their composure to win.
With 10 minutes to go, Queensland replaced their goal keeper with a field player which meant NSW had an extra field player to mark.
The strikers had to play defensively to keep Queensland scoreless and as the clock ticked away, NSW played brilliant hockey to win the gold medal.
The players went up in jubilation as did the NSW supporters.
Rutherford had gained another shiny gold medal to add to her impressive collection.