No stranger to the big stage, Dubbo product Emma Corcoran has added another gold medal to her collection after celebrating a win at the Hockey Australia Under-21 Indoor National Championship at Goulburn.
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The 20-year-old played in the team for the fourth year in a row.
“It was a great experience, going through undefeated, it really doesn’t get much better than that,” Corcoran said.
The national title win, secured thanks to a 1-nil grand final victory over the ACT on Tuesday, was made a touch more special for Corcoran, because it came alongside Orange’s Chloe Barrett, one of her closest friends.
While the duo have one gold medals together for NSW before, they had always been in opposite rotations.
“It was amazing. We have never had the opportunity to play in the same rotation, we have always been in the opposite. But we know each other so well, and we play so well together because of that,” Corcoran said.
“To play together for NSW is just great.”
Barrett backed the sentiment.
“We live together, we travel to play together in Sydney, we just do basically everything together really. Winning these tournaments is always exciting, but being able to do it with your best mate does make it extra special.”
Individually Corcoran said she played a good game, notching three goals for the NSW team.
“I don’t think I really stand out, but I do just get the job done and do what the coach expects,” she said.
The duo still have one year left to win another gold medal in the under-21 age group, should they get picked again, but for now the focus shifts to the field hockey season.
They’ll start their pre-season with University of NSW in February.
After earning promotion the year prior, 2018 was UNSW’s first season in the Sydney Women’s Hockey League Metro 1 competition.
“Last year… we didn't really get the results we wanted, but we weren’t far off, a lot of one and two-goal losses,” Barrett said.
“But it was our first year in that division and we’re starting our preparations in February, we’re definitely looking to really come out firing.”
NSW ran through the tournament undefeated and weren’t really challenged outside the decider and their 2-1 win over Western Australia.
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