FIVE South Coast products have steered their Illawarra South Coast team to victory at the weekend's under 18s NSW field hockey championships at Taree.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Gerringong based Demi Stewart, Mackenzie Ford and Claire Smallhorn and club mates Neive Campbell and Madison Barton helped their David Johnson side go through the three-day tournament undefeated.
They opened their campaign on Friday with a 1-all draw against Northern Sydney and Beaches, before backing it up with a thumping 9-nil win against Newcastle.
Johnston's team then produced two strong wins on Saturday, firstly against Tamworth 5-nil and then North West Sydney 4-1 - victories that qualified ISC for the semi-finals.
In Monday's semi-final against Metro South West, neither team could gain an advantage, as the match ended nil-all - which meant the higher ranked ISC side progressed to the decider against Sydney South.
In a back and forth encounter, ISC had the last laugh, edging their Sydney rivals 4-3 to claim the state title.
The Gerringong quintet were joined in the side by Madison Agnew, Charli Corbin, Ella Gibson, Libby Hall, Alexia Palin, Lucinda Preeo, Helena Tobbe, Ella Twigg and Brooke Welsh.
Following this victory, Ford as well as ISC team mates Imogen Fowles, Libby Hall and Lucinda Preeo were named in the 45-player Hockey NSW Athlete Acceleration Program for the 2019/20 season.
Also in action at Taree was Shoalhaven's Iszi Crawford and Alyssa Phelan, as well as Berry's Montana Stamp and Rachael Henshaw and Gerringong's Kirra Schofield, who all played for the ISC division two team - which was managed by Vanessa Phelan.