Alicia Horwood (rear), goal keeper Rachael Lenehan, Rachael Brody and Vicky Askew-Thornton battle to make sure the ball goes the right way in the Warrnambool and District Hockey Association women’s grand final.
EVERYTHING Rachael Lenehan touched turned to gold on Saturday.
The 24-year-old was involved in three winning Warrnambool and District Hockey association grand final teams.
She said the most satisfying was victory in the senior men’s game.
She also coached the winning Strikers in the under 17s and played for the victorious Storm in the women’s division.
Lenehan was brought into the men’s side as a replacement goalie.
She said the upset 5-4 victory over firm favourites the Pirates was the best win of the day.
“That was a game we didn’t expect to win,” she said.
“The Pirates finished the season on top of the ladder and the Storm were in second.
“The Pirates had a big 8-3 over us in the first semi-final and won their way straight through to the grand final.
“We went in not expecting to win, but we wanted to be competitive.”
The Storm started strong, scoring two early goals that Lenehan said raised the side’s confi-dence.
“From there it was just back and forth for the rest of the game,” she said.
“We just kept at them and played strong defence and attacked well.
“It was a close and intense match — in fact they all were.”
Lenehan kicked off her day by coaching the under 17 Strikers to a 6-5 victory over Technique.
“We were up 3-0, but then we had an injury, which saw one of our players taken away in an ambulance,” she said.
“Technique came out of the break strong and scored three goals and it was just back and forth until the end of the game.
“They put up a good fight, but we were lucky enough to overcome their strong pressure.”
In the women’s division, Lenehan’s Storm went in as the favourite and managed to overcome a late fightback from the Timboon Saints to walk away 5-4 victors.
She said the Storm had a comfortable 3-0 lead by the last period.
“But they came back late in the period and scored two goals to take it to 3-2, we scored to take the score back to 4-2,”she said.
“With three minutes left they scored again to bring it back to a one-goal difference.
“It was a nail biting finish, but again we managed to hold on,” Lenehan said.
