Sydney University Women’s 1st Grade has come out firing in 2015 after the disappointment of finishing second in 2014.
A solid preseason campaign and the recruitment of new players has seen the women quickly make an impressive mark on the Sydney Women’s Premier Hockey Competition. At the half way point of the season the women find themselves undefeated and on top of very strong competition.
SUHC veterans and 1st Grade Captains Fiona Tout, Gillian Bennett and Nina Khoury have led from the front all season, while SUSF Elite Athlete scholarship holders and NSW representatives Greta Hayes, Kyah Gray, Rachel Miller and Maddy Rosser have all been key in the success of 1st Grade and influential in a number of the close matches against the top four teams.
The women have set themselves the target of winning back the Premiership in 2015 and Coach Ben Chiarella has been happy with how the women have been travelling thus far.
“It’s a long season and we have a number of areas to continue to refine and work on, relying on talent alone won’t win back the Premiership. We need to continue to analyse our performances and look for areas to improve, week in week out we must challenge ourselves to be better. Although we are sitting first, there are still areas we can and must improve on if we to have more success in 2015.”
The ladies have a tough few weeks ahead with the Australian U21s National Tournament and a number of players being away with the NSW U21s team, however given the impressive depth they have across the Club in 2015 they remain confident in seeing out these tough few weeks and set themselves up for a big finish and a run into finals hockey in September.
