WAUCHOPE capped off a near-perfect season with a near-perfect performance in the Port Macquarie-Hastings Hockey Association women's B-grade grand final on Saturday.
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The Warriors were rarely challenged in a comprehensive 5-0 shut out of Port City that was overshadowed by a serious injury to Piranhas defender Megan Velardi.
Velardi had to be taken to hospital early in the first half after being hit in the back of the head with a deflection.
It unsettled Port City as Wauchope ran riot through goals to Emily Brazel, captain Michelle Smith and Alyssa Slattery along with a double to Jess Galloway.
Smith said it was Galloway's most complete grand final performance she had ever seen.
"I've played with her since I was 19 and I've never seen her play a grand final like that ... ever," she said.
"The nerves normally get to her, but she came out charging today."
Wauchope had only suffered one defeat all year and it became apparent early they were going to be hard to beat.
"Sometimes you end up minor premiers then come it is pretty common to come out and lose the grand final so that was good to see the girls come out firing," Smith said.
Port City captain Ange van Zeeland admitted her team simply ran out of legs.
"Playing mid-week didn't help; we didn't have many players because we've had lots of injuries so we were down to less than a full side, but they were too good," she said.
"We were pretty happy just to be there, so it's not a disappointment in the sense of the team.
"It's more a disappointment that we couldn't put the team that we wanted on the park."
Van Zeeland admitted the loss of Velardi threw their game plan into chaos and they were unable to adjust on the run.
"She was a pretty important player in our defence which unsettled things," she said.
"People were playing in positions they'd not played before, but they ran straight over the top of us and we didn't have much to answer with."
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