Prior to last Saturday, the Canberra Chill women's Hockey One season was all but over.
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They had impressed in the early stages of the tournament, but losses to the Perth Thundersticks, HC Melbourne, and Adelaide Fire had relegated them to fifth position.
The only hope which remained for the women was that the Tassie Tigers, who were without a win from five games, could upset the fourth-ranked Thundersticks.
And on Saturday, November 2, that's exactly what they did.
"A few of us were quietly confident that Tassie would cause an upset," Chill player and Goulburn local Sass Economos said.
"We had a really close game with them, I think they held Melbourne to a draw until half time, [and the] same with Adelaide, so they had a pretty solid team."
Tasmania's 5-3 shock win over Perth saw Canberra leapfrog the Thundersticks on the ladder, into fourth position and a semi-final against HC Melbourne this Sunday.
While the result was ideal for the Chill, they now have to prepare for the hardest possible beginning to their finals campaign.
Up against the competition leaders, who have lost only one of their six matches to date, Economos said the Canberra girls were "feeling pretty good".
"Last time we went down there [to Melbourne] we only went down 2-0 to them," she said.
"If we play well together as a team hopefully well come away with a win, and then hopefully we'll get a first crack at a grand final."
The tight-knit nature of the team and the return of some key players are two factors which Economos believes can give Canberra an edge this weekend.
"We're all really tight-knit, Canberra's not a big place so we're quite close," she said.
"There's a good mix of experience as well, having Eddy [Edwina Bone] come back in. I've had a lot to do with her and she's a really good role model and helps out the younger players with their confidence.
"It's a really lovely team to play in."
Ahead of the most high-pressure match of the competition, Economos said the Chill will aim to fine-tune its game.
"We'll probably just look at our footage from the last game against them, and find the areas we need to work on a little bit," she said.
"I don't think we'll be trying to change anything too drastic, we'll just look at areas we need to improve."
The match between the Canberra Chill and HC Melbourne will take place on Sunday, November 10, from 2.30pm at the State Netball and Hockey Centre in Melbourne.
The winner of this semi-final will play the winner of the match between the Adelaide Fire and Brisbane Blaze in the grand final.
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