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LITHGOW under 13 girls showed they are just as talented indoors as they are outdoors when a team travelled to Niagara Park to take part in the State Indoor championships.
After a couple of gruelling days, Lithgow finished duel State champions with Tamworth after the two teams could not be separated after 84 minutes.
The other good news for Lithgow was the selection of Emily Thompson in the State team to contest the nationals in January in Wollongong.
Emily was also a NSW representative along with Rylee Millar in the winning team in the outdoor version of hockey.
The team was coached by Guy Mannering and managed by Melinda Mannering and made up of four Lithgow girls, Rylee Millar, Emily Thompson, Shakaya Bott, Ruby Thompson and four Parkes girls, Savannah Draper, Gracey Denham- Jones and Sophie and Maggie Wright.
Goalie Gracey Denham-Jones will also join Emily in the state side.
The team was unable to train in the lead up to the championships and only met each other one hour before the first game.
The goal for the first day was to win both matches and not concede any goals with results being:
Versus Metro South
West No 1: Lithgow played some good hockey to come away with a 2-nil win.
This was a close match with the girls taking the first half to settle in and than start to grow as a team throughout the second half.
Versus North West
Sydney No 1: Lithgow continued on their winning ways scoring a 3-nil win.
It was great to finish the first day with maximum points and conceding no goals.
Versus Tamworth:
Day two started with Lithgow’s toughest game by far in a game that was played with great intensity and ended up being a 2-all draw.
Versus Central Coast:
It was a must win game for Lithgow if they wanted to finish top of the pool.
Lithgow suffered their first defeat in a narrow 2-1 loss to Central Coast.
The loss saw Lithgow finish second in their pool and set up a semi final against Manning Valley who were considered the best team to this point.
Semi final, versus Manning Valley:
Lithgow were looking to bounce back after their disappointment the previous night.
At the pre-game chat Lithgow talked about changing their defensive structure.
From the start the Lithgow girls followed the instructions and were able to progress to the grand final with a 2-nil win over Manning Valley.
This was a fantastic effort by the team and was the first time in at least four years that Lithgow under 13s girls had made it through to the grand final.
Grand final: It was a replay of the round game against Tamworth who started the game with great intensity and were able to run away to a 1-nil lead early in the game.
At half time, coach Mannering told his side to stick to their game plan and were rewarded with 10 seconds left with a short corner.
The pressure on the side line was immense; the push out was firm and Emily Thompson took a drag flick that went into the top of the goal to level at 1-all.
After a short break, both teams played tough, fair and skilful hockey but were unable to score, with both teams having opportunities.
After the first six minutes, the teams played an additional six minutes with both teams dropping off one player.
Once again both teams played excellent hockey but were unable to score.
As the scores were tied both teams were then declared joint state champions.
The two teams had played 84 minutes hockey and could not be separated.
This capped of a successful year of the Lithgow under 13 girls age group after also taking out gold at the field hockey state championships.
All girls were a credit to Lithgow Hockey association and the girls from Parkes were also credit to their association, all displaying excellent team work on and off the field during the championships.