Division 1 Women

Redbacks met Strikers in the Lower South East Hockey Association Division 1 competition last weekend during the special White Ribbon Round raising awareness for domestic violence at Blue Lake Sports Park.

Strikers had its work cut out with the absence of Kate Fabian in goals and strong defender Chloe Boylan, who were both away representing South Australia at the National Country Championships.

Redbacks came out firing from the first whistle, stringing some fast plays together through the midfield.

Zara Blackwell was able to put two quick goals in the back of the net to give Redbacks the early lead.

Eliza Beck joined the score sheet shortly after, followed by a goal to Anna Mitchell and another goal to Blackwell to give Redbacks a 5-0 lead heading into the half time break.

In the second half, Strikers was able to get some run forwards into the circle and got onto the scoreboard with a goal to Aleesha Tucker after a scramble in the circle.

Redbacks continued to pepper the circle, but goalkeeper Abbey Gerretson was able to make several saves to keep the score line in single figures.

Shortly before the end of the third quarter, Lauren Manser was able to net a deflection from a hit from Shae Delaney.

Redbacks finished the game off with two more goals and a convincing 8-1 win.

They will be looking to next week’s game against West with anticipation before finals.

In the other Division 1 women’s match Tigers took on West, who were without star play makers Dana Jones and Sarah Mutch, who were also away representing the state in Western Australia.

Tigers sensed the opportunity for a victory and looked fired up to take their chances, dominating possession in the first half.

After a few close chances finally put a goal on the board thanks to a perfectly executed short corner variation when Ella Matheson slotted her shot beyond the reach of West keeper Chrissy Jachammer.

Kaitlyn Nisbet, Latish Adam and Olivia Turner were running freely in the middle of the field and creating plenty of opportunities.

Many were well repelled by the strong defense of Carly Emerson and Mercedes Theobald, who were everywhere for West.

Tigers’ inability to score when they were in control of the game was to come back to haunt them, as West came out in the second half and immediately lifted the intensity, creating several chances that only narrowly missed.

Deb Hicks had a terrific defensive game for Tigers, holding Ange Broad out of the game, but with eight minutes to go Broad finally found a bit of space and levelled the score with a close-range shot.

Soon after Lily Deleland found herself free inside the circle and broke Tiger hearts with the match winning goal, snatching the victory 2-1 for her side in the dying stages.

Division 1 Men

Tigers 2 took on Strikers and the latter scored first after a closely contested opening term.

Both sides utilised their passing game well with a few individual runs catching the eye.

Strikers connected well through their midfield to put two goals on the scoreboard.

Some monumental aerial moments were on display from the good skills of Jordan Millhouse, Caleb Lindsay and Dean McCarthy resulting in Strikers’ third goal.

For Tigers, Ben McCourt was menacing in the forward line, with several scoring opportunities only narrowly missing. 

While both sides had their share of the attack, it was Strikers that produced the better conversion rate and showed the most polish to take a 4-0 lead into half time.

Strikers had plenty of pace up forward, but Tigers were quick to read the play and Harry Robinson in goals was ready to charge on any incoming runs.

Mick Carne took every opportunity to pressure the Strikers defence and Craig Nisbet provided an expert’s class in ball control. 

Millhouse had a great shot on goal in the dying seconds of the game, but Greg Cooper made save of the day right on the final siren to hold the score at 4-0.

Tigers showed too much depth for West when they met in the White Ribbon Round.

West broke through for its first win against Tigers last time they met, but a victory this time was going to be a tough ask.

Both teams lost key players to state country duties in Connor Grant (Tigers), David Vine and Brayden Burston (West).

From the outset, Tigers applied pressure to the West back line.

Keiren Brennan came into the West line-up and was kept extremely busy with the likes of Aaron Mengler and Brady Cooper applying continuous pressure up front.

Tigers took a while to gather themselves up forward, but it was not long before Mengler scored his first of many for the afternoon.

By quarter time he has two to his total while Thatcher made the score line 3-0 at the first break.

The second quarter played out in similar fashion with Mengler clinical in attack and by half time he had a total of five goals to boost his team to 7-0 lead.

This was typical Tigers dominance up forward against the less experienced West defence.

Their only consolation was an attempt to apply some scoreboard pressure on Tigers before the game finished.

But the start of the third quarter looked a lot like the previous half and Tigers added another through the efforts of Brady Cooper from a short corner. 

In a change of momentum, West was able to score twice through Chris Callis.

The final quarter was an even contest with tired players keen to finish the game off.

West broke through again, in a further change of the tide to score their third for the game and make the score line look a little more respectable.

Late in the proceedings saw Mengler slot through yet another to bring his total to six goals for the game and seal the 9-3 win.