TWO of Lithgow’s best young hockey prospects in Hannah Kable and Rylee Millar have added two shiny silver medals to their collection after finishing runners-up in the under 15 national championships at the Illawarra Hockey Centre.
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The pair have already won gold for their state with Rylee representing in the under 13s division while it was Hannah’s second year in under 15s.
It could have been just as easily been back to back golds for the girls after going so close this year.
NSW finally went down 2-nil to Queensland in a final that was hotly contested throughout.
NSW’s record read: Game 1 v Queensland No 1 down 2-1; and then scored wins over Western Australia Gold 4-1; Victoria Blue 2-nil; Tasmania 1-nil; NSW Blues 7-nil; Victoria Blue 4-1 and then went down in the final to Queensland 2-nil.
Rylee and Hannah showed their versatility by playing out of their normal positions due to team injuries but did not disappoint their coach with a great display of skills.
Hannah, being no stranger to representing her state at this level, was again strong while the younger Rylee made a superb debut in the older age division after representing at under 13 Australian championships in Sydney in 2015.
The two Lithgow girls were standouts in just about every game for NSW during the tournament.
Hannah played a leadership role, playing the majority of games as an attacking mid (inside forward), producing the go forward and attack for her team’s many goals.
She finished the tournament with a swag of goals from the field and penalty corners and set up a number of other goals and attacking raids.
Rylee, selected as a defender, started the tournament playing the first two games in a defensive role.
Due to team injuries Rylee was required to adopt different roles within the team with her being moved to striker.
Her hard work rewarded with a field goal against Victoria in a semi final which was certainly a highlight.
Her versatility impressed her coach and the NSW contingent marking her down as a player of the future.
In the final against Queensland, it was a very physical display with NSW having several chances in the first half to go into the lead but could not convert.
Going into half time, NSW were the dominant team, but the scores stood at nil all.
After half time Queensland raised the intensity and scored a breakaway goal and then wrapped up the title when they found the back of the net with five minutes left in play.
Both Hannah and Rylee played exceptional hockey throughout the tournament and final and should be very proud of the role they played in helping NSW achieve silver.
The girls are the daughters of Michael and Robyn Millar and Michael and Katrina Kable.
