What a year.

Finals

Last week we could not give the full stats of Southern teams in finals, as the masters season had not finished. Now we can.
Juniors: Seven teams made the top four and in to finals, with three minor premierships – Under 16 Mixed Shield A, Under 18 Mixed District, Under 16 Mixed Pennant. And now four teams in to the grand final: Under 16 mixed Shield A, Under 16 Mixed Pennant, U14 Mixed shield A, and Under 12 Girls shield.
Women: All six teams in to finals, with one minor premiership – Women’s Metro B
Men: Five teams in to finals.
Masters: All four teams in to finals, with one minor premierships – Men’s 45D

That is a total of TWENTY TWO teams made it in to finals. What a year.

Our premier league teams.

There is so much that can be said about the performance of our premier league teams this year, but it is not only about this year, it is about what made these teams over the years.

Looking at our premier league teams in the finals on the weekend, there are some incredible statistics.

13 from the women’s premier league league team have been/are part of our juniors program;
11 from the men’s premier league team have been have been/are part of our juniors program;
13* from the women’s premier league reserve league team have been/are part of our juniors program;
15 from the men’s premier league league reserves team have been/are part of our juniors program.

That is an amazing feat for the club. The club as whole, now and in the past should be congratulated for what has been achieved.

Grand Final Preview – Juniors

Under 16 Mixed shield will play their grand final at the Hockey Centre on Friday night against Doncaster . Southern’s 16 mixed shield have been part of the grand final in 2015, 2016, and 2017 with a win in 2015, having finished third on the ladder in 2014. Half of the team is in their last year of juniors and want to make this final count after a heart breaking loss in 2017 in a challenging shoot out.

Under 14 mixed shield runners up in 2017, premier in 2014, and third on the ladder in 2015, and 2016. The shield team will play a repeat of 2017 grand final against Camberwell, we are sure it will have a different result.

Under 12 girls shield will play Camberwell in the final at SNHC. We first put in an under 12 girls shield team in 2014, second year of the competition, and the team finished runners up, with Mark Lambert as coach. This was followed by a premiership in 2015 and 2017. Let’s hope for another premiership on Saturday against Camberwell, GO GIRLS.

Under 16 pennant, what a great year these boys have had with Hayden Jones and Dave Ephraums coaching. They will play Knox in the grand final at a neutral venue. Southern won Under 16 mixed pennant in 2016, when they too were minor premiers.

What’s on at Southern?

Save the date for presentation nights.

The senior presentation night will be held on Friday 19th October at Milano’s Hotel in Brighton. Save the date, tickets will be on sale shortly.

The junior presentation night is September 14th at Farm Rd. The times for each age will be sent out shortly. We will be running a choccy toss to add to the fun of the night. Donations of chocolate would be much appreciated, and can be left at the uniform shop.

October 14 Bunnings

We will be running another Bunnings BBQ on October 14th. Perfect after watching the AHL game on the 13th. Please nominate your time to help via http://bit.ly/bunningsbbq All help is greatly appreciated.

AHL/International Hockey

All playing members will have received a mail regarding the “fan package” that is available to purchase.

Southern United has 86 tickets in the best section of the Eastern Stand (zoo side) for the AHL and International Pro – League series. Southern United supporters have a chance to buy tickets in this prime seating. Our tickets are block 18 and 21 – see the seating here

You can get your tickets here.

The Victorian Hockey Fan Package will be an 18-month membership giving fans access to seven match days from October 2018 to November 2019, including:
· 2018 AHL – Round 2 v Western Australia – Saturday 13 October 2018
· 2018 AHL – Round 3 v South Australia – Sunday 21 October 2018
· 2019 Pro League – Round 1 Australia v Netherland – Saturday 2 February 2019
· 2019 Pro League – Round 2 Australia v Belgium – Sunday 3 February 2019
· 2019 AHL – 3 Home match days in October/November 2019 – dates TBC

Note: on all seven match days there will be a Women’s & Men’s match scheduled. 14 games in total.

Premier League Finals 1

What a day.

The women’s premier league started the day at the hockey centre in an amazing game against Mentone. The women took it to Mentone winning 3-1, with 3 goals to Nicole Graham. After their week of the ladies will play the winner of the Hawthorn / Burra preliminary final after Hawthorn’s shock loss to Footscray on Saturday.

The men were just SO CLOSE, 3-2 up with minutes to go against Doncaster, but Doncaster just finished with the penalty corners they needed to win 4-3. The men will play Waverley in the preliminary final on Saturday.

The reserves were playing their finals at Monash. The women’s reserves early in the day up against 8th on the ladder Doncaster, for a 1-0 win, to move them through to the preliminary final with the one goal scored by Karli Rookes. The men’s reserves later in the day had a tough game, with the men 8th on the ladder against Burra 5th. A goal in the first half to Pearcey was the lead that they managed to keep for the whole game. A huge effort by the team as the underdogs to move to the preliminary final, which is against Camberwell after their shock loss.

Men & Women’s Pennant Finals 1

The pennant finals did not go our way.

The women’s pennant E team, promoted with some team competition restructure at the end of 2017, have performed outstandingly this year, finishing second. The game against Camberwell did not go their way, but have another chance on Saturday when they play Waverley.

Men’s pennant C, promoted as runners up of pennant D in 2017, have had some good and not so good games in the season. After two wins against Camberwell during the season, it wasn’t meant to be on Sunday.

Women’s pennant B travelled to Essendon, with Simone Hill Rennie rushing to Essendon after her goalie duties for the womens met A team. Essendon proved too strong finishing the women’s pennant B season.

Men & Women’s Metro – Finals 1

All our metro teams are through to the next round of finals, with Women’s Met B doing one step better and straight through to the grand final.

Bec McNess showing her style, U12 Girls final then the WMB final

The MMA at full strength with the fixtures allowing all to play showed their muscle against Monash in a 5-2 win with two to Hayden. The Women’s Met A, I think shocked themselves, with a win and through to the preliminary.

Junior’s Preliminary Finals

Five junior teams in the preliminary finals, with three wins, giving Southern four junior teams in to grand finals in the coming weekend.

The under 14 mixed shield A team coming from 3rd on the ladder, played a great game against Essendon to move through to the grand final.

The under 16 mixed pennant team, minor premiers, with a full force team on Friday night, had the goods against Gippsland for a 3-1 win. With most of the play for the first 45 minutes, and only 1-0 up, Gippsland fought back, and scored with five minutes to go, making the likely result 1-1. But some amazing fight back after so many unlucky shots on goal, the Southern boys scored two quick goals for the 3-1 win.

The under16 shield girls, have achieved so much making it to the preliminary final, but Essendon proved too much on Friday night.

The under 18 red team, minor premiers, but the Mentone team powered by their strongest 18s were just too much. Mentone 1-0 up, and the removal of our goalie to try and get the required goal did not make the difference, with our boys and girls, going down 3-0. Our track record with 18s has been so strong with coaches of Shan and then Steve Duffield taking on the role of coach and mentor.

Our under 12 girls shield team in to the grand final again. Well done girls.

With the focus on finals it is easy to miss the success our half field teams have had in the term 3 competition.

Under 12 boys district had another win, with one game to go, they are sitting on top of the ladder. The under 12 girls also had a win against Brunswick. A mini carnival was held with the three u12 district girls teams: Southern, Brunswick and Footscray having a fun morning.

The under 10 boys who have had a strong term 3 went down to Mentone, and the girls went down to Waverley.

Masters

The womens 35+ masters team won their elimination final on Wednesday night against Essendon and now move to the preliminary final against Powerhouse on Wednesday.

All men’s masters teams in to the finals and played their first finals last night. The teams at Farm Rd had a successul night, 45Bs a 2-0 win over Southern Knights, and the minor premiers, 45D, finished time 0-0 and then put their significant practice (OK, slight exaggeration) to good use to win the penalty shoot out. Great work Chris and Ross scoring, and Rob in goals.

The men’s 45A played at Hawthorn tonight against Camberwell at 7pm in their elimination final, with Camberwell proving too strong.

Senior Finals 1, Preliminary Finals Juniors

Finals Fixtures

Round by Round Summary