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It was a silver day for WA’s under-15s gold teams, with both the boys and girls losing their respective grand finals in heartbreaking fashion.
The girls team headed into their gold medal match full of confidence after winning each of their five pool matches, while also recording a whopping goal difference of 19.
They couldn’t match the firepower of Queensland Maroon in the final, losing 3-0 in Newcastle on Thursday.
The competition’s leading scorer Lily Punch was the difference, scoring twice in the second quarter to take her goal tally to 17 for the tournament.
Teammate Kara Bradley, who sat second in the scoring charts, put icing on the cake with her 11th goal in the fourth term to seal their victory.
Ava Fraser-Edwards and Lauren Healey were the top scorers for WA gold during the tournament, finishing with six each, but could not find the back of the net in the gold medal match.
The boys copped a tougher defeat, going down 5-1 to Queensland Maroon earlier in the day.
WA scored the first in just the fourth minute through Harper Kearan, but Cody Hale then scored twice for Queensland, who added a goal in each of the first three quarters before two in the final to run away with the gold.
WA Gold sat at the top of the standings of Pool A after completing their tournament with four wins and one loss, with Queensland Maroon undefeated.
Harley Muir starred on the national stage for WA with seven goals, with Jonah Pilatti and Oscar Male both scoring four each.
The under-18 national finals will be played on Thursday, with WA Gold men’s into the gold medal match after defeating Queensland Maroon 5-2, completing the pool stages with four wins and a draw.
The women’s under-18 team will play for bronze.
