New England “did an America’s Cup” at the State Under 18 Boys Indoor Championships at Goulburn on the weekend, prising the Division 1 silverware from Illawarra South Coast’s grasp.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
“Illawarra have won it for the last 14 years straight,” coach Paul Eichorn said.
“New England did an America’s Cup on them.”
After thumping Sydney South 8-1 in their morning semi-final the Lions sealed the title with a 4-3 win over the reigning champions.
“It was a really strong display from the boys,” Eichorn said.
The Lions had staged a stunning fight-back to draw 3-all draw when the two met during the pool stages.
“Half-way through that game we were down 3-nil. We made a few slight tweaks in our positional play and came over the top of them,” he said.
It was their closest result for the weekend, accounting for Sydney East 4-nil, Metro South West 4-3, Goulburn 14-nil and Newcastle 9-3 to pip Illawarra South Coast on goal difference and finish top of their pool.
“They’re a group of kids that really know how to play together as a team,” Eichorn said.
“There was no real weakness in the side. Everyone trusted each other and some of the stronger teams we just ran them into the ground.”
Eichorn’s expectations heading into the championships were fairly high with the side that he had.
“We thought we had a pretty strong side and we thought they’d do pretty well,” he said.
“They lived up to expectations.”
A great team performance, he said keeper Sterling George had an “absolute blinder”.
He also made mention of Darby Chalmers, who “played very well”, captain Cody McCann and young guns Jake McCann and Nathan Czinner. The latter two were stepping up from the Lions under 15s.
Their success however – disappointingly for Eichorn – didn’t translate to the selection table with Luca Brown the only player to make the state side to play at the nationals in Goulburn in January.
He was a bit miffed as to how they can win the tournament and only get one player selected.
Brown hails from the Far North Coast but regularly plays with the Lions at state championships.
Aiden Wicks was though recognised for his efforts over the tournament receiving the development umpire of the tournament award.
The 18’s success capped off a great showing from the Lions indoor sides.
All three boys sides made the semi-finals or better with the under 13s finishing third and the under 15s runners-up.
The girls sides also performed very well.
The under 15s were runners up while the under 18s made the semi-finals.