The SA Suns (formerly Southern Suns prior to 2015) are a women's

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

team based in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

that competes in the

Australian Hockey League The Australian Hockey League (AHL) was Australia's premier national domestic field hockey competition.AHL Webpage
D ...

(AHL). The SA Suns won national championships in 1995 and 2011.

Team

2018

The following is the SA Suns team roster for the 2018 AHL: Head coaches: Mark Dedman #

Mariana Lagos #

Jane Claxton Jane Claxton (born 26 October 1992) is an Australian field hockey player for Australia. Claxton was a member of the Australia women's national field hockey team that were defeated by the Netherlands women's national field hockey team in the fina ...

( C) #

Celeste Foord #

Emily Grist #

Holly Evans #

Euleena MacLachlan #

Amy Hunt #

Alison Penington #

Michaela Spano Michaela 'Miki' Spano (born 8 April 1997) is an Australian field hockey player. Spano was part of the Australian women's junior national team 'The Jillaroos' that won bronze at the 2016 Women's Hockey Junior World Cup, 2016 Hockey Junior World ...

Karri McMahon ( C) #

Ashleigh Morrison #

Lucy Talbot #

Leah Welstead #

Amy Hammond (GK) #

Hattie Shand #

Ashlee Wells (GK)

2015

Source:

History

Name Changes

Since the founding of the Women's Australian Hockey League, the SA Suns have competed under five different names.

National Championships

2011 Women's Australian Hockey League

At the 2011 AHL, the SA Suns won the Australian Hockey League for the second time. This was the first time the SA Suns had won in 16 years, defeating the NSW Arrows 1–0 in the final. The SA Suns lineup included Hockeyroo members Holly Evans, Bianca Greenshields,

Georgie Parker Georgina Parker (born 16 December 1964) is an Australian television soap actress and has also appeared in film and theatre. She is a double Gold Logie winner, best known for her acting roles in Australian soap operas; as Lucy Gardiner (later ...

and Elise Stacy. The team was also aided by

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

imports Melody Cooper, Clarissa Eshuis and

Kayla Sharland Kayla Marie Whitelock (née Sharland, born 30 October 1985) is a New Zealand field hockey player, and former captain of the New Zealand women's national field hockey team (the ''Black Sticks Women''). She has competed in four Olympic Games (200 ...

. The team was coached by former

Kookaburra Kookaburras (pronounced ) are terrestrial animal, terrestrial tree kingfishers of the genus ''Dacelo'' native to Australia and New Guinea, which grow to between in length and weigh around . The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri language, Wira ...

Craig Victory Craig Victory (born 3 February 1980 in Adelaide, South Australia) is a field hockey striker from Australia who played 102 international games for the Australia men's national field hockey team, the Kookaburras. He is a Commonwealth Games, World ...

. The team concluded the tournament with 7 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses, scoring 29 goals and conceding 14.

1995 Women's Australian Hockey League

The SA Suns won their maiden

Australian Hockey League The Australian Hockey League (AHL) was Australia's premier national domestic field hockey competition.AHL Webpage
D ...

title in 1995. The team included 1992 Olympians and Hockeyroo members,

Juliet Haslam Juliet Haslam is a former field hockey defender and midfielder from Australia, who competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1992. She was a member of the Australia women's national field hockey team, best known as the ''Hockey ...

OAM, Kate Allen OAM and

Alison Peek Alison Louise Peek (born 12 October 1969), nicknamed "Peeky", is a former field hockey player from Australia, who competed in two Summer Olympics for her native country. She was a member of the Australia women's national field hockey team, best ...

OAM. 1984 Olympian Tricia Heberle was head coach of the team.

Previous Placings

The following table shows the SA Suns' final placings at the AHL since its founding.

Notable players

Notable players who have played for the SA Suns include: * Kate Allen *

* Melody Cooper * Clarissa Eshuis (NZL) * Holly Evans *

* Bianca Joyce * Mariana Lagos (CHL) * Karri McMahon * Gabrielle Nance *

(NZL) *

* Lucy Talbot

Coaches

Previous Head Coaches of the SA Suns have been: * Mark Dedman (2016–present) * Darren Neimke (2014-2016) *

(2011) * Tricia Heberle (1993–1995)

Home Stadium

The team's home stadium is the State Hockey Centre (South Australia) (also known as the Pines Stadium) which is located north of the Adelaide CBD in Gepps Cross. The stadium has a capacity of about 4,000 with 330 permanent seats. The stadium was used for the 1997 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy.

Honour Roll

References

{{Adelaide Sports Teams Field hockey clubs in Australia Sports clubs and teams in South Australia Women's field hockey teams in Australia Sports clubs and teams in Adelaide Field hockey clubs established in 1993