After their come from behind victory in the Vawdon Cup Grand Final in October, Hills Hornets Women’s Open has achieved the double by taking out the Women’s open B NSW Touch State Cup Championship.
Led by Coach Craig Beacroft and co-Captains Melissa Mitchell and Larissa Canning, it has been an extraordinary season that has seen them lose only one game across both Vawdon Cup and Sate Cup competitions.
Women’s Div 1 Champions
But the State Cup campaign was not without it’s drama’s. After winning both games on the first day of competition, Coach Beacroft suffered a serious finger injury in his other role as a senior mixed player early on the second morning of competition. A trip to the hospital saw him miss the Hills Women play Carlingford Cyclones, where the game went down to the wire with Hills scoring late in the game to salvage a draw. It was a lucky escape, with every result important in determining positions for the finals series on Sunday.
The girls rediscovered their rhythm for the 2nd game of the day, and with Beacroft returning to the sidelines, the women beat the Peninsula Piranhas 6-1 in a clinical display. A hard fought win against Defence Warriors in the last game of the day, saw the Hills Women finished top of their Championship pool and a path straight through to a semi-final.
Abby Urwin in action
The Semi Final was against Wests Magpies. The first 4 sets saw 4 tries for a 2-2 score line 4 minutes into the game. It was then an arm wrestle for the next 10 minutes, until Hills scored 3 times in a row to take what looked like a match winning lead of 5-2. But Wests are known for their fight, and scored 2 quick tries to make the last 5 minutes an absolute nail biter. The Hills Women held on to win their way through to the Grand Final against the North Sydney Bears.
The Grand Final was tight early on before the Hills Women showed their class, and won convincingly 6-3.
It capped off a fantastic 2017 for the team and the Hills Hornets Club.