Hockey Season Gets Underway
[Written by Laura West-Burt] The 2011/2012 season opening games saw some close matches on the weekend with Panthers edging out a win over Chameleons in a 3-1 victory.
Goal scorers for Panthers were Daryll Van Heerden, Sums Dharmalingan and Phil Philpott and Richard Cox was the sole scorer for Chameleons.
Upstarts started their match applying a lot of pressure on Polecats during the first 30 minutes and managed to keep the score at 0-0 until Nigel Dean scored 2 goals within 2 minutes just before the half time whistle.
Polecats continued their relentless scoring in the second half with Donnie Simmons netting a goal and Richard Marriott scoring 3 successive goals within 11 minutes for a final result of 6-0.
In B league action, Bluebirds defeated Canaries with a 2-0 victory with Maria Harris scoring late in the first half and Kourtney Fassler sealing the win with a goal in the second half.
In a well fought game, Longtail Canaries lost to Budgies who went on to win with a final score of 2-1. Jaselle Smith scored early in the first half with a swift second goal by Raven Pearman a short time later to give Budgies a 2 goal advantage at half time.
Longtail Canaries did very well to contain Budgies in the second half and did not concede any more goals and Jokiah Richardson put Longtail Canaries on the score sheet with a field goal in the 54th minute.
Ravens B fielded a very young, mainly junior team this weekend, who had a baptism by fire when they took on a very strong team of experienced, senior Wildcats players.
Ravens took some time to find their feet and managed to absorb the constant pressure applied from Wildcats. Wildcats were awarded a penalty stroke mid-way through the first half which was placed wide of the goal, keeping the score at 0-0 at half time.
Ravens managed to get their offense going and some good link-up play between Georgia Harris and Kristen Morbey was effective, however, Wildcats defender Belthea Pringle managed to break down the majority of the Ravens attack. Wildcats consistency was rewarded in the 46th minute when Darcy Gimas scored a field goal sealing their victory.
In the only Ladies A League match of the weekend, Budgies set the tone with a 3-0 win over Canaries A. Budgies applied pressure from the first whistle with an attacking play involving Francesca Cacace crossing the ball in the second minute to Keishae Robinson who saw her shot go wide of the goal. Robinson was able to assist five minutes later with a pass to Raven Pearman who converted to see Budgies go 1-0 up by half time.
In the second half, Canaries built some momentum with some great link up play between Laurel Powell and Liz Duncan but failed to put the ball past Budgies keeper Toni Fray.
Iman Smith dashed any thoughts of a comeback from Canaries, by beating the Canaries keeper with a powerful shot in the 44th minute and then sealed their victory with a final goal in the 59th minute.
Natasha Hallinan, the Canaries Sweeper, returned to the field after missing most of last season due to injury but proved to be a formidable force on the back line along with her team mate Rebecca Gibson.
