Heath Ogilvie starred for University, scoring a hat-trick in his side’s 5-2 win over premiers Albion Park in the Illawarra hockey grand final at Unanderra on Sunday.
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It was a great recovery for the Students who missed last year’s grand final after losing to Wests Illawarra in the semi-final.
Ogilvie and Kookaburra Tristan White were the standouts in the University team with Ogilvie up front and White in defence and controlling the midfield, keeping out the Eagles.
“If you want to win big games you need to execute in the key moments. We came back in the second half, put our passes through and delivered. A good contest,” White said after the match.
Ogilvie, White and Nick Jennings were double premier league winners with Moorebank who last Saturday beat UNSW by the same score 5-2 in the Sydney premiership.
Park defender Dean Nealon was back in defence after a leg injury but they were missing Kieran Govers who was recalled to the Kookaburras for the Darwin international this week.
It was a great feast of hockey with Park dominating the first half and the Students coming back in the second half for a total annihilation when the Park defence crumbled.
Despite the early onslaught from University in the opening minutes through Ogilvie, it was Park who went ahead in the 8th minute through Josh Mayo from their third penalty corner.
Five minutes later, Heath Ogilvie hit back to equalise from the Students’ first penalty corner.
Play then settled in midfield until the 20th minute when Park attacked with several penalty corners resulting in captain Jack Hayes converting a penalty stroke, taking the score to 2-1.
University hit back just before the break but missed chances from Jennings’ mis-hit from the top of the circle and Ogilvie’s second penalty corner.
The second half saw the Students go on a rampage with Eagles under tremendous pressure and goalkeeper Nathan Ackroyd working overtime.
Three minutes into the second half, Heath Ogilvie levelled the scores 2-2 with a brilliant connection from Callum Mackay on the left wing.
University went ahead two minutes later when an unmarked Chris Whitehall scored past Ackroyd collecting a great pass from Connor Tuddenham.
Tensions now rose with Park’s Brady Anderson and Scott Govers being sent off leaving nine players.
During this period the Students took full advantage and went further ahead 4-2 with Ogilvie completing his hat-trick from a drag flick with 12 minutes to go.
After this came missed chances from young Tuddenham until the final minute when Nick Jennings made sure of the 5-2 win finishing off a move from Surendran on the right.
Park captain Hayes was disappointed with the scoreline although praised the Students for their win.
“Uni played well but it’s very hard to win a premiership with 9 blokes on the field towards the end,” Hayes said.
In the women’s grand final, Albion Park, with former Hockeyroo Casey Sablowski, beat University 3-1 with a hat-trick coming from Emma McLeish.
