Fourth-placed Central edged out Souths 2-0 in a gripping shoot-out after the scores were locked at 1-all at full-time in the minor semi-final at the Newcastle International Hockey Centre on Saturday.

Minor premiers Oxfords went down 2-1 to Gosford in the major semi-final.

"We have definitely got some momentum," Central player-coach Kasey Cocking said. "Coming off last week's win over Gosford and again on Saturday, we are feeling pretty confident. The girls are pumped up."

Goalkeeper Janna Purdon was the hero for Central.

The veteran answered an SOS at the start of the season after Cocking "didn't have a keeper".

"She was our second-grade keeper last year and was looking to play there again," Cocking said. "But she stepped up to the plate to play premier because we didn't have a keeper. She made a couple of cracking saves during the game and stood up in the pressure situation at the end. She stayed agile and pressured them until they made an error."

In the one-on-one shoot-out the attacker, has eight seconds to score from 23 metres out.

Kendall Steel and Hannah Baxter converted for Central but Souths were unable to beat Purdon. The one occasion they found the back of the net, time had elapsed.

Indi Loretan put Central in front in the second quarter of regulation time only for Souths to equalise late in the third.

"It was a shitty way for them to lose but we deserved the win," Cocking said. "It was a fairly even contest, but we created a few more chances than they did. Defensively both teams were strong. We didn't get a penalty corner all game and they had one.

"It was played a lot up and back in the midfield. There wasn't a whole heap of circle penetration from either team. Ash [Tsakissiris] put a tomahawk a foot high of the goal. Grace Baxter did an almost identical shot 10 minutes later and the keeper saved it. We definitely had a few chances."

The major semi-final was also a tight affair, with all three goals coming in the final term.

Ella Carr put Gosford ahead with a penalty stroke and then former Hockeyroo Jackie McRae converted from a penalty corner. Oxfords scored a consolation goal on full-time from a short corner

"It was always going to be a tight game," Gosford coach Gavin Drennan said. "It was about taking our opportunities when they popped up."

Oxfords coach Thea O'Sullivan, though disappointed, took a lot of positives from the match.

"It was a great game, really fast, really skillful and there was some good hockey played by both teams," O'Sullivan said. Unfortunately, we turned over too much ball in attack and they made the most of their opportunities. We scored off a penalty corner at the end but we had multiple corners that we didn't score from."