ILLAWARRA HOCKEY
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ALBION Park and University will both be looking to gain the mental edge over their rivals when they meet for the last time before the finals this weekend.
The perennial title-contending pair have split three previous encounters this campaign with both squads each winning one match and drawing the other.
But the Students took the honours in dominant fashion in their round-three encounter, when they trounced the defending premiers 7-2.
Albion Park's Steve Mayo was hopeful of ensuring his side wouldn't suffer a similar fate this time around.
"It will be nice to compete a little bit better than we did last time. They can score goals in a hurry, so that is the battle," he said.
"We probably just need to slow their speed down a touch and minimise our turnovers.
"They are a couple of big ones we need to do."
Park have returned to form with two strong wins against finals contenders Wests (third) and Robertson (fourth) in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, the Students have dropped just one game since their 5-4 round-two loss to Park and are now 15 games unbeaten.
They added Mittagong to that impressive streak on Sunday with a convincing 8-1 triumph.
"We stuck our passes together and nailed our basics," Uni's Heath Ogilvie said.
"Mittagong are very strong up there and after a below par performance against Robertson, all we wanted to do was just nail our basics and get back to what we are good at."
Ogilvie was expecting more goals from the Students this weekend against Park.
"It should be a free-flowing game with plenty of goals and plenty of attack," he said.
"It will be a matter of shutting down their front three, who are pretty dangerous, then getting the result we want."
A win for University on Sunday would all but wrap up the minor premiership.
In another match last round, Wests beat Dapto 5-0.
In the women's first-grade competition, University defeated Railway Greys 2-1, Fairy Meadow beat Jamberoo 3-1, Figtree Unanderra took care of Gerringong 5-2 and Avondale and Wests shared the points in a 2-2 draw.