Div 1 Women
Naracoorte V West
Lower South East Hockey Association round three action had West travelling north to take on Naracoorte.
A break in the rain enabled the game to start in sunshine with two strong teams on the field.
West wasted no time in getting into attack, pressuring the Naracoorte defence and testing out Brittany Chaston’s goalkeeping skills.
Naracoorte held strong and settled into the game forcing West back and creating some good midfield play to change the direction of play.
Some tidy teamwork allowed Naracoorte to break through West’s defence to earn a penalty corner which Cathy Loder converted with a loopy hit that bounced in all the right places, eventually just dropping over the prone West goalie for the first score of the match.
West rallied and challenged Naracoorte’s defences again, making Alice Rainsford and Shan Derrington work hard.
Dana Jones came to the party shortly before quarter time with a lovely tomahawk to slot the ball into the goal for West.
In the second quarter the play was fast and end to end with West attackers attempting to score from every ball within reach but they were constantly denied by the Naracoorte defenders.
A flurry of penalty corners awarded to West tested the Naracoorte defence further but they stayed strong with some fancy footwork from Chaston and her defenders shutting down the options for West.
A fast break for Naracoorte enabled Sarah Hamilton and offsider Sarah Fry to beat the West defenders but they were just off target with their shooting and could not capitalise on the opportunity.
The weather turned in the second half and a steady rain settled in.
A strong and steady defence from Paige Clarke and Tori Grosse denied plenty of challenges from Sarah Hamilton and Brooke Green and both teams settled into a mid-field tussle.
Naracoorte engineered another fast break that saw Sarah Hamilton taking on West’s goalie in a one on one.
A great initial save was followed by a full stretch second save when a following Naracoorte hit tried to send the rebound back in.
West managed to work the ball back out of defence and handed it over to attack and managed to score through Gemma Ballintyne after multiple penalty corners.
Fourth quarter tiredness resulted in some fumbles and mistakes from both teams but West was the first to recover with Angela Broad hitting the bottom corner for their third goal.
Broad was keen to follow up and took every opportunity to shoot, eventually managing another score.
A final fast break from Naracoorte earned a penalty corner after a desperate tackle from the West defence.
West defence stayed strong and cleared the ball to keep the final score 4-1.
Strikers v Tigers
The game between Strikers and Tigers Division 1 women lived up to its billing, with an exciting 2-2 draw played out in front of a good crowd.
Tigers scored first through an absolute laser beam short corner shot from Kaitlyn Nisbet.
Tigers had the majority of the attack in the first quarter, but Chloe Boylan held her defence together and repelled a lot of promising attacks.
Strikers equalised in the second quarter with a short corner of their own to gun recruit Ash Dunn and took the lead shortly after when a bouncing ball found the back of the net.
After finding themselves a goal down Tigers tried to mix things up a bit in an attempt to beat the ever amazing Kate Fabian in goals, and the equaliser finally came after sustained pressure through the midfield by Morgan Cooper led to a terrific goal by Billie Jones.
The final quarter was an arm wrestle with both sides looking to take the points, however no one could find the winner, leaving the result a fitting draw.
Div 1 Men
Strikers V Tigers
The Division 1 men’s match looked a total mismatch early on, with Strikers taking the field without a goalie.
Brady Cooper scored within minutes, and Connor Bartlett took full advantage, dribbling the second goal in shortly thereafter.
Strikers did not give up and earned themselves a short corner, which was converted after a nice variation and a slick drag flick by Jordan Millhouse.
Blake McKee got on the end of a nice team goal for Tigers to make it 3-1, when thankfully Strikers’ goalie was finally able to take the field.
Dean McCarthy put on a show in stick skills in defence for Strikers and Connor Butler showed great intensity in the midfield, but they could not stop the Tigers’ scoring machine, as Bartlett and Cooper both scored again.
Matt Kain also scored on the brink of half time for Tigers to take a 6-1 lead into the main break, despite a number of good saves by goalie Jordan Fabian.
Cooper got his hat trick just after the half time break, and Aaron Mengler got on the scorecard after working hard setting up teammates for the bulk of the match.
Strikers were able to hit the scorecard again in the last quarter, but it was of small consolation in the 10-2 defeat.
It was a dominant performance by Tigers, despite the fight shown by Strikers they were no match for last year’s premiers.
West v Naracoorte
It was a beautiful day in Naracoorte for the clash between West and Naracoorte, with both teams looking to push each other to the limit and to find out who was the better side.
The first quarter was West’s with debutantes Tyler Collins and Archie Aitken both scoring goals in the first quarter and Angus Aitken finishing off with a third.
In the second quarter Naracoorte started strongly, getting numbers behind the ball.
West started to lose a bit of structure and was messing around with the ball.
West however got its composure back and was able to score another two goals.
Tiredness crept in during the third quarter, with neither side playing with a full team.
The game stagnated with West and Naracoorte just trying to blast it through each other’s defences.
West started linking up in the last five minutes of the quarter and with this was able to put a few more goals in.
The last quarter was a very slow and methodical stanza, with not a lot of running and balls hit through gaps.
West managed to slot a few more goals in before the final whistle blew.
Goal scorers for West were Angus Aitken 5, Archie Aitken 2, Brayden Burston 2 and Tyler Collins 1.
