Tara Murray
Altona pushed Camberwell all the way in its Hockey Victoria Men’s Premier League preliminary final before just falling short on Saturday evening.
Having won their first two finals in penalty shoot outs, the Seagulls were set for another big test on Saturday against Camberwell.
The final score line shows a 4-1 loss, but it doesn’t tell the full story.
Seagulls president Alex Tyrell said it was a really good game of hockey which for a long part of the game could have gone either way.
“We played the minor premiers last week and Camberwell was equal on points, so we’ve played the best two teams in the competition in the last two weeks,” he said.
“They dominated the first half and were 1-0. Our goalkeeper [Ben Hoppell] and defender Steven Campbell both did a really good job in defence to help keep them out.
“We made it 1-1 in the third and it was even in the rest of the quarter and into the fourth. They hit the crossbar and we hit the post.
“They were able to make it 2-1 and then the flood gates opened up and they scored two more to seal the win.
Tyrell said the score line didn’t reflect how the game was played and that they had some opportunities in a really good game of hockey.”
Cooper Burns was the goal scorer for the Seagulls.
Camberwell will now face MCC in the grand final.
Tyrell said they were so proud of their group for making the preliminary final.
“We were fourth for most of the year before finishing fifth,” he said. “It’s our first full season since 2019.
“We missed finals in 2019 so it was a good achievement to make the preliminary final.”
Tyrell said overall it had been a mixed year for the club.
While the men’s side played finals, the women’s side finished 13th which he said was disappointing.
With the premier league competitions set to be reduced in the coming years, he’s hoping both teams can have good seasons next year.
The club’s metro women’s team beat Sunshine 3-1 in their grand final on Saturday. Having won the premiership in 2019, they’ve now gone back-to-back.
Their men’s metro pennant B side lost in a shootout to KBH Brumbies, 4-2.
It’s been a big few weeks for a couple of Altona players with Cooper Burns and Connar Otterbach. The duo have just been picked in the under-21 Australian team to play in the Sultan of Johor Cup next month.
Featuring six hockey nations, the Sultan of Johor Cup is the only junior invitational hockey tournament in the world and will this year celebrate its 10th edition.
The Burras team, which was selected from the National Junior Men’s Squad, consists of eight players aged 20 or younger who are eligible for 2023 National Junior Squad and Junior World Cup selection. The other 10 players are 21 years of age.
