2025 CL1 Women Preview

Published Wed 19 Mar 2025

The 2025 Hockey ACT competition starts this weekend with the first game to push back on Friday night at 6:30pm.

A group of girls holding a sign

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The Canberra Labor Club Capital League One Women’s Competition will be a tightly contented competition in 2025. With new faces and player movement, there will likely be some changes to the top four come grand final weekend in September. The UC Stars will don a new playing strip this season but won’t see any changes from their 2024 Premiership winning team and will look to go back-to-back in another exciting season of hockey.

Likely top 4:

The UC Stars have stayed true to their premiership winning side from 2024 and will see no changes to their line up. With experienced heads like Meredith and Edwina Bone, Olivia Martin, Emma De Kiefte and recent Canberra Chill debutant, Gabrielle Millan the side is looking to build from last year and continue to develop their side and experience.

Tuggeranong Vikings have recruited well with the addition of Canberra Chill goalkeeper, Sarah Steinhardt, the return of Sassie Economos from the NRLW, Ellen Vahey from overseas and Laura Reid, all adding to an already strong line up should see TVHC pushing for the top spot.

North Canberra Eagles will be looking to go one better this year after going down 3-0 to the UC Stars. Holding onto their strong side from the 2024 season, they will also see the addition of another Canberra Chill debutant, Lucy Nash and look to create some fun and exciting hockey while developing their juniors.

United will be the team to watch after an incredible off-season recruitment. The team will see the return of key defender Emily Robson, returning from an ACL injury, Alyssa Smith returning from a shoulder injury, Canberra Chill debutant Taquira McGrath, ACT U21 rep Maya McGrath, as well as talented youngsters Clare Crossman and Ellie Challenger. With the loss of key player, Sophie Backhus, the team are still in their building phase with developing their U16 and U18 ACT players but are excited to remain with their solid core playing group and young defensive line up that includes U21 reps Lucy Neely and Bridgette Anable.

The Teams:

ANUWHC

Coach	Adrian Derham
Captain/Leadership Group:	Emma Lomas
Key Ins	Miranda Scroope Leanne Smit
Outs	Linda Nixon
Rising Star	Ella Woolley

Central

Coach	Mel Titley
Captain/Leadership Group:	Madi Dooley
Team Says	The CL1 Central Women’s squad is looking forward for an exciting 2025 season, with plenty of fresh energy, new partnerships, and a strong leadership core ready to take on the challenge. Madi Dooley, will lead the team this year in the captaincy role, supported by a leadership group committed to building and fostering a positive and competitive environment. While the team has seen some players move on, this transition has created fantastic opportunities for fresh talent to join the squad and bring new faces into the group. A key highlight for the team is the wealth of representative experience within the ranks. The team is proud to have several players selected for ACT representative squads last year and/or this coming year, including: • Madi Dooley (Chill) • Isla Syrek (U21) • Olivia Savage (U16) • Sam White, Lil Mutton, Kate O’Keefe, Tracey Kocmar, and Bec Hotchkis (Masters - ACT and some Australian selections) This level of representation not only reflects the talent within the team but also brings a high-performance mindset to the season ahead. Adding another exciting dimension to 2025 will be Central partnering with a club from Sydney, which will provide players with more opportunities to experience different competitions and develop their game. These opportunities will help strengthen the team’s depth and adaptability this season. With a mix of experienced leaders, emerging talent, and exciting new collaborations, the season ahead promises to be one to watch.

Goulburn

Coach	James Hanger
Captain/Leadership Group:	Georgie Smithers
Key Ins	Georgie Smithers Emmalee Croker
Outs	Taquira Mcgrath Lucy Nash Maddie Agnew
Rising Star	Bella Croker Grace Jones
Team Says	A rebuilding year with a lot of our successful and talented juniors that have been promoted up from our CL2 team. Another quality group to refill into those CL2 spots to ensure our growth of talented hockey players in Goulburn will continue. There is still some excellent support from experienced players around these juniors and will ensure we make it a successful transition. The side will feature 4 x NSW U21 players and a Canberra Chill Squad goalkeeper.

North Canberra Eagles

Coach	Glenn Turner
Captain/Leadership Group:	Laura Monterosso
Key Ins	Lucy Nash, Tess Pabluski
Outs	Taylor Thompson
Rising Star	Jade Norwood and Zy Holloway
Team Says	We are excited to get the season started and want to continue our consistent form from last season. We also would like to continue to produce some fun and exciting hockey while solidifying our defense. With so many of players on rep duties throughout the year we are confident to play some of our dynamic and dangerous juniors and we are looking forward to watching them get their chance.

Old Canberran’s

Coach	Tristan Kearns
Captain/Leadership Group:	Gemma Bautista Lucy Balfour Thekla Ganiaris
Outs	Catriona Bailey-Price Tara McLaughlin
Rising Star	Bella Buchanan
Team Says	This is a really exciting year for Checks, looking to build on a strong finish to last season and push for finals. Thought we’ve temporarily lost some experienced players, others are grabbing increased opportunities with both hands. Watch out for a new-look forward line and for our talented but unheralded midfield and defence to drive us forward.

St Patrick’s

Coach	Chris Moylan
Captain/Leadership Group:	Zanthe Sheargold Aleisha Price
Key Ins	Olivia Paige Smyth
Outs	Layla Bettiol
Rising Star	Sophie Bolton and Ash Seivers
Team Says	With a settled squad and improved depth, St Pat’s will be looking to get back to being a dominant force in the women’s CL1 competition. With a mix of experience, youth and many players hitting their peak, St Pat’s will be tough come the business end of the season. Look for a big showing from the Evans sisters and Ash Seivers upfront, the ever reliable and calm head of Aleisha Price in the middle and the work rate of Nicola Williams supporting across the park. Starting the season mostly injury free, St Pat’s will look to improve on the disappointment of last year’s early finals exit. Emma Taylor will add to her tally of the most 1^st grade games across the Men and Women in the ACT, playing across 4 decades.

Tuggeranong Vikings

Coach	Brent Clark
Captain/Leadership Group:	Imogen Dorsett (C) Mikaela Patterson VC Sarah White VC
Key Ins	Sarah Steinhardt Sassie Economos returns from the NRLW Laura Reid returns from maternity leave Ash Chivers and Ellen Vahey return from overseas.
Outs	Jess Speechley Eddie Carr
Rising Star	Imogen Dorsett
Team Says	After narrowly missing last season’s finals, the Vikings are looking forward to the return of a great number of talented players. With the addition of Sarah Steinhardt in goal, the Vikings are looking forward to a strong showing. With Imogen Dorsett and Pip Lendrum in the U21 women’s side and a host of players trialling for 18s coupled with Milla Bailey in the U16s side the Vikings has a strong pathway of athletes coming through. It is hoped that the Vikings is well represented in the Chill with players like Mikaela Patterson, Sarah Steinhardt and Imogen Dorsett expected to feature. After a season disrupted by player unavailability Vikings are hoping to make a strong impression on the 2025 competition.

UC Stars

Coach	Andrew Bewick
Captain/Leadership Group:	Meredith Bone (C) Emma De Keifte (VC) Olivia Martin Edwina Bone
Key Ins	The team will be the same in 2025 to the 2024 model.
Rising Star	Addi Chapman. Addi was the Stars Players Player in 2024 off the back of numerous dominant Defensive Midfielder performances. She is incredibly reliable and regularly turns possession into positive outcomes for the team. While she is yet to crack the representative ranks, it is only a matter of time before she is a regular ACT representative.
Team Says	The UC Stars will again focus on delivering improved performances each week. The CL1 competition is strong in 2025, and no weekend fixture will deliver ‘easy’ points. 2024 saw the UC Stars achieve several memorable moments, and we will look to create more in 2025. The team has remained together in 2025 which will provide the players a terrific opportunity to further develop their knowledge of ‘our’ gameplan. The team are amazing support for each other and demonstrate the idea that you never lose, you either win or learn. We expect 2025 to be a tight competition and look to make the four in a strong position for the finals.

United

Coach	Cameron Smith
Captain/Leadership Group:	Alyssa Smith
Key Ins	Emily Robson – Back from Injury Taquira McGrath Maya McGrath Clare Crossman Ellie Challenger
Outs	Sophie Backhus
Rising Star	We will have to see which one of our Juniors looks to stamp their mark on the season
Team Says	While the club has picked up a few players, we still consider ourselves in a building phase with some strong u16 and U18 representative players still finding their way in CL1. We will have a solid core playing group with Alyssa in the goals, Em Robson returning to our young defense that held its own in 2024 and includes a couple of U21 reps in Lucy Neely and Bridgette Anable. Our Midfield will be boosted by the addition of TK and Maya McGrath, joining Emma Baxter. We will continue with our young forward line that will see new players to the club, Clare Crossman and Ellie Challenger, see how they can trouble some defense as they continue to learn their craft. We will also see a number of our CL2 players get opportunities throughout the year with will continue to build on the depth of our juniors. Alyssa Smith coming off the back of the Oceana Junior World Cup Qualifying Series win with the Jillaroos against New Zealand, will be looking to try and cement a place in the Junior World Cup team to compete in December

Canberra Labor Club Capital League One Round 1 Fixtures:

Friday 21^st March – Carter Field 6:15pm	United v St Patrick’s
Friday 21^st March – Watt Field 7:45pm	OCHC v UC Stars
Saturday 22^nd March – Goulburn Field 2:00pm	GDHA v Central
Saturday 22^nd March – Carter Field 3:30m	NCE v TVHC

BYE - ANUWHC

2025 CL1 Women Preview

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