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Women's Hockey - AUGs 2005 - by Kate "Dill" Debenham
Cruising up to Brisbane for AUGS for the second year running (quite a feat given history!)the hockey girls from UTS were a strong team both on and off the field. The sunshine and the good times provided a perfect opportunity for the 15 girls (and one old man coach) to let down their hair and enjoy a week of drinking as well as playing some good hockey.
Day one of competition saw the team faced with the worst draw of all time, an 8AM game against University if Wollongong. Perhaps if the night before had not been so out of control the team may have been able to perform to their potential, but as it was not a 0-0 draw was enough to keep us on target. Second game of the day against UNE at 6PM saw the team their first victory 1-0, with a great goal from Katie "Thirsty" Watson. The with the hard work done most of the team made it through judiciary and out to the show ground for the night. Unfortunately no lead singers came home this time.
On day two of competition a generous start time of 4pm was much needed, however a very close match against La Trobe University with both teams applying tremendous amounts of pressure resulted in yet another 0-0 draw for UTS. But with only one game under our belts for the day, there was a whole lot of drinking to be done that night and the team dispersed itself across Sydney, not all team members waking up in the Grand Chancellor Hotel the next morning.
As part of mid week punishment, the girls faced three games the following day. The first was a challenging one against the eventual winners of the pool QUT, which resulted in a 0-0 draw yet again. However given some players may still have been out a little out of sorts, this was a pleasing result. This placed us second in our pool and meant a repecharge match against Monash which had to be won to secure a place in the finals. Stepping up to that challenge UTS defeated their oppenents and went through to the quarter finals, with Katie Watson again scoring one for the team. The final game of the day saw a tired team, not in the best state to be playing the eventual winners of the tounament, Charles Sturt Bathurst. Unfortunately the team suffered their first loss of the tournament and finally conceded a goal, the eventual score finishing at 2-0. The late finish did not prevent the team from hitting the streets of the valley and causing a stir.
Thursday involved only one late game, and thus some relaxing time out at the fields. All this however was undone in a long and grulling match against QUT. With the score being, surprise surprise, 0-0 at full time, UTS summoned all their strength to play over time drop offs. After 7 minutes of 9 a side then 7 minutes of 7 aside the players were about to collapse and the score was still 0-0, though UTS were applying the pressure with a series of penalty corners. This meant it was time for penalty strokes in order to decide a winner, which unfortunately turned out not to be UTS's strong point. Details here are a little embarrassing so lets just say we unfortunately lost. The embarrassment carried on into the night for some in the team with one player being admitted into hospital for an accident with a bottle which left her with a cut tendon, two cut atteries and two cut nerves. The most severe off the field injury for a UTS hockey player at any uni ganes, it has been said.
The final day saw several severly hung over players in the team who still magaed to make it out of bed for one final game and a chance to finish better than any UTS women's hockey team EVER! The 9am game against GU was a battle for 7th place and one that UTS was happy to be able to take out with a 2-1 win over GU. Goal scorers were Taya "Doe" Prescott and Victoria "Vommie" Clancy, these two goals doubling our tally for the entire tournament! For the rest of the day the team was entertained by the red bull tent and DJ, dancing the day away in the sun and suffering some severe sun burn as a result.
After watching the finals the team returned to the city for one last night of fun, and what a night it was. With a team full of legends there were strong bonds made between everyone which made the trip unforgetable, with a mark being left both on and off the field on the infamous Brisvegas. Congratulations to our all star goal keeper Adrienne "Sparkie" Ling who was selected in the Green and Gold merit team for her impecable efforts in goals, she only let in two goals the entire tournament and scored the most off the field, quite an effort I would say!
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