KEW Hockey Club

Kew (4) vs Essendon (5) Coming into the last round of the season, finals hopes had long since been laid to rest for the Women’s Vets team, but that didn’t quash the hopes of this ever-optimistic bunch of finishing the season on a high note. The weather was bleak but the mood certainly wasn’t – the full squad was there waiting with anxious anticipation to see whether Trish’s mid week dreams of glory would be brought to fruition.

Well, what a night. Essendon had already secured a finals berth, and the pre-game chat overheard by one our number suggested that our opposition thought they were in for a walkover. Ten minutes in, it was looking like their anticipated easy win was in the bag and let’s just say that the state of things looked pretty grim from our end. Three quick goals went through in the opening minutes, and our hopes of ending the season on a high seemed to evaporating before our eyes.

But suddenly there was a change in the air. Was it an overwhelming urge to restore our dignity? Trish’s premonition? Divine intervention? Who knows, but suddenly this motley crew pulled out something special. It all began with a magical run by Trish, individually fighting off forty seven players, culminating in a beautiful cross to the left post, where Katherine’s stick was waiting for a neat deflection into the goal.

The rest of the game is a blur of adrenaline punctuated by another three beautiful shots on goal, the first by Cas and the following two by Trish, that slammed the backboard decisively. Somewhere in there the opposition scored another two, but by that stage the final score line mattered no more.

At 5-4 it can’t be denied that Waverley deserved the points, but the comeback from 3-0 down and some of our best play for the season felt better than a win to us. So much so that a powerful rendition of the club song felt more than justified, and we certainly finished the season on the high we had been hoping for.