Men’s And Women’s Hockey Weekend Results
Over this past weekend, a few games were played in Women’s League and Men’s Hockey Group with the Budgies A, Wildcats B, Longtails B, Budgies B and Spartans recording wins, while two other games resulted in draws.
Women’s
Budgies A vs Ravens A: Final Score: 2-0 to Budgies A
An evenly matched game in blustery and rainy conditions with both teams playing with aggression seeking a win. This first half saw much passing and dribbling skills as they entered their respective circles. Eight penalty corners were awarded to Ravens, but saw no execution. Budgies were awarded 4 penalty corners and executed one; injected by Francesca Cacace to the top of the circle which found Keishae Robinson who fired the ball towards the goal, but a deflection off the defender’s stick and with the Ravens’ ‘keeper’ off her line, Tse Minors made no mistake by putting it away high to the right of the ‘keeper’ in the 34th minute with a minute to go to end the first half of 1-0 to Budgies A.
The second half commenced slightly slower than the first for both teams. Budgies’ Azari Thomas dribbled the ball into the circle slightly to the right of the penalty spot and with a slip to Jasmine Patterson doubled the lead in the 53rd minute off play that passed the ‘keepers’ right and the victory went to Budgies A of 2-0.
Ravens B vs Wildcats B: Final Score: 1-0 to Wildcats B
It’s three wins in a row for the Wildcats after a hard fought 1-0 victory over a tough and spirited Ravens team. The first half featured the teams trading offensive chances with both goalkeepers, Joanne Bielby and Anti Williams, for Ravens and Wildcats respectively making some good saves. The break-through came in the 24th minute of the game, when after a series of good passes through the midfield by the Wildcats, the ball found its way onto the stick of Gemma Godfrey who drove the ball from the 25 metre area into the right side of the circle and a cross to Suzanne Moniz by the penalty spot who stopped the ball and successfully slotted the ball into the net.
The Ravens regrouped during the halftime break from this setback and came out with a high press from start which generated several good chances. Wildcats’ ‘keeper’ Williams was up to the task and made several key saves to keep the clean sheet and was backed up by strong team work from Wildcats’ juniors Ashley Steede and Pier Simons and the defence of Belthea Pringle, Ryce Trott, Pam Royce and Brenda Smith to secure the victory.
Canaries B vs Longtails B: Final Score: 1-0 to Longtails B
Both teams were on the attack from the start and the first half remained scoreless.
They continued the same into the second half. Longtails’ Maya Palacio would dribble the ball to the top of the circle and her shot was going wide, but her deflection off the ‘keeper’ went into the goal with three minutes to go of the match in the 67th minute for a field goal. Longtails were the winners of 1-0.
Swallows B vs Budgies B: Final Score: 1-0 to Budgies B
Conditions for play was a mixture of sun and wind. Swallows started out with a squad of 10 and reduced to 9 in the second half, so they had to cover quite a lot of the field. Budgies’ Jennifer Beech and her midfield got quite a few touches on the ball as they headed down the right towards the Swallows’ area and with the assistance of Azari Thomas (repeating her performance from Friday evening’s game) who crossed the ball near the penalty spot where Vanessa Carroca scored a field goal to the right of the Swallows’ ‘keeper’ in the 28th minute and despite continuous efforts by both teams the score remained 1-0 to Budgies.
Men’s
Upstarts vs Spartans: Final score: 1-2 to Spartans
Both teams recruited players from the dormant men’s Polecats team to set up a very evenly matched battle on Sunday in the unusually warm January sunshine, with the Spartan’s side capitalizing on one more opportunity than Upstarts for a score of 2-1.
This was a highly competitive and fast pace match between the two teams from the start with Upstarts scoring first in the 3rd minute by an unmarked Tyler Smith who fired a shot into the Spartan’s net. The back and forth action continued and Spartans were able to equalize in the 11th minute after being awarded a penalty corner, injected by Nigel Deane to Donovan Simmons at the top of the circle, who produced a well-placed and powerful drag flick which bested the Upstarts’ ‘keeper’ bringing the score to 1-1. The teams continued to trade chances as the frenetic paced continued
through the first half but both defense stood strong with the first half ending all tied at 1-1.
Play resumed in the second half with several opportunities on both side. Early in the second half the Spartans thought they had taken the lead of the stick of Samuel Thompson whose slap shot from the top of the when in just over the ‘keepers’ shoulder. The goal however was disallowed by the umpires as a foul was committed just prior to the shot. Moments later the Upstarts struck a very solid aerial at the Spartans’ net expecting to take the lead, but the ball was safely deflected without any difficulty by ‘stand-in junior keeper’ Michail Ming-Woodley for a miraculous save high over the post nets and out of bounds.
Spartans’ Donovan Simmons gave his team the lead with a slap-shot field goal in the 61st minute with assistance by Richard Minors who collected the ball at the 50 metre line, dribbled wide and slipped it to Simmons to narrowly seal the win of 2-1 to Spartans.
