Peel Hockey welcomed a bunch of up-and-coming star players to their Halls Head base when they hosted the Ciriello Coaching Academy (CCA) for the first ever Friendship Cup on Tuesday night.
The CCA – a coaching academy designed to provide high-quality training – took to Mandurah Hockey Stadium for a pair of clashes against Peel’s junior girls and boys invitational sides.
The girls sides took to the pitch first in a hard fought contest, but despite Peel’s young guns keeping the CCA squad to just a goal before half time, they were unable to stem the scoring in the second half.
A spirited contest ended as a 4-0 win to the CCA team.
The boys took to the field afterwards, with a hotly-contested clash coming down to the wire.
Peel opened with the first goal of the game putting the pressure on the CCA to match it, but they conjured their reply shortly after to level scores at 1-1.
The second half saw the visiting outfit go up 2-1 before Peel was presented with a chance to equal the ledger late in the game.
But the home side’s attempt sailed over the cross bar with the final whistle gifting CCA a narrow victory.
The Academy will now take the inaugural Friendship Cup back to Victoria.
Peel Hockey talent development director Jerome Buck labelled the night a huge success.
“The real winner last night was junior hockey and in particular junior hockey in the Peel and South West region,” he said.