May 3 & 4 saw hard work by our players rewarded with some great results. It’s especially pleasing to see the Division 1 Women’s team, Newtown Falcons, on top of the ladder with 5 wins from 5 matches. Go ‘Town!!
Minkey
Newtown Gold vs Kardinia Blue. The Newtown Gold match saw a great game for everyone, with lots of passing and good position play. Great tackling allowed Newtown to attack often, with great teamwork all over the field. Best Team Player Award went to L. Williamson for great tackling, passing and team play.
Newtown White vs Newtown Maroon. It was an really impressive first game of the season for Newtown White (our opponents were absent last week)! Our Coach Kellie was very impressed with our thought processes, marking and passing. C. Elder received the Best Team Player Award for her marking of players. R. Smith loved it so much and was so excited after the match he eagerly asked our coach Kellie if we just played “Real Hockey”. Yes and so well too! We even scored our first goal of the season. Thanks to Newtown Maroon for being such a fair opponents and great sports! Great team work Newtown White!
Newtown Maroon vs Newtown White. Newtown Maroon are beginning to show the benefits of concentration and teamwork. Great clearances from defence by I. Clarke helped F. Tobane and M. McKenzie move the ball into attack, resulting in a number of near misses in the goal scoring area. M. Fursland showed great concentration on the ball and determination to gain possession, earning her the Best Team Player Award.
Under 11
Newtown White vs Newtown Maroon 2-2. Round 2 was another great performance by Newtown White, with everyone putting in a fantastic effort regardless of their place on the field. Well done to K. McCaffrey who took on the role of goalkeeper in her first game of U11, and to M. Humphrey who played his 25th game. J. Tobane. B. Quinlan, C. Shackell and C. Brown all had some great passes and defended well. M. Eastman, A. Ayerbe, C. Paul and E. and M. Humphrey were on the ball most of the game with some great long passes by I. Paul and A. Skeen, all playing a role in M. Reilley’s goals. Strong distribution by the right wing saw Newtown White take an early lead in the first half. Newtown Maroon lifted in the second half to take the match to an epic 2-2 draw.
Newtown Maroon vs Newtown White 2-2. In a very hard fought local derby, Newtown White got off to a good start, slotting 2 first-half goals. The play was fairly congested through the midfield, but in the second half the Maroons were able to put into place some of the things practised at training. Wide clearances, a few longer through-balls, and some great running with the ball opened up the game and created scoring chances. Goals to W. Jennings and H. Bradbury levelled the scores to end the game with a
fitting 2-2 draw. Best Team Player Awards to J Monks and W Jennings.
Under 13
Newtown Maroon vs Torquay 2-0. A slower and less assertive start on Saturday by Newtown Maroon – the fantastic effort by so many players from the previous week, seemed to have dropped off! Maybe the later time slot suited our players more. Torquay, whilst small were strong in defense, and with Maroon turning the ball over to them quite frequently in the first half, our capacity to score was limited, despite much of the play up our end. Some consistent and impressive running by A. Reilley proved a real strength for Maroon this week, offering some great leadership by example, positioning herself out wide and continuing to run and chase the ball. More lessons were learned about the danger of focusing play up the central corridor, resulting in congested receipt of the ball and high turnovers. The coaching message at half time focused on work rate with the ball and passing quickly to players in better positions; spreading the field to create options and more talk amongst the team. This saw a better response by Maroon in the second half, with T. Mahon proving to be solid again this week and two lovely goals – first scored by E. Fischer and second by R. Van der Ploeg. Eventually a good win to Maroon. The players are continuing to grow as a team with positive and consistent messages from coaches Marcus and Darren.
Under 15
Newtown Maroon vs Saints 8-1. Saints started well with a goal early in the game. Newtown Maroon played well, putting a lot of pressure on the D in the first half. The second half saw Newtown Maroon make a lot of forward moves which were rewarded with a number of goals. Excellent moving up forward by T. Pearson, lots of running by H. Stoop and E. Ward was where she needed to be on the post, rewarded by two goals and strong work by everyone. Ball movement out wide improved in the second half to secure a great win with some very good team play. Goals to H. Stoop, M. Barnett, T. Pearson, E. Ward, M. Rau.
Newtown White vs Kardinia Blue 6-2. A big thanks to T. Boardman, E. Fischer, M. Rau and A. Reilley for filling in this week. It was a great game by all, with passes distributed well across the field. We saw some strong plays in attack, leading to a number of short corners. S. Lee was reliable as usual in goals with some great saves. Goal scorers were A. Birse, J. Jirik, M. Rau and J. Stewart.
Under 17
Newtown White vs Torquay 4-0. With good playing conditions, Newtown White got off to a good start with two goals in the first few minutes of play to D. Smith and A. Gieles. Hard tackling from F. Peel, B. Sheddan, A. Birse and S. Fitzgerald saw the team working together, passing well and finding opportunities. Torquay regrouped with a chance at goal, well deflected by B. MacIntosh on the post. A short corner to Newtown just before half time resulted in a fourth goal. A quieter second half at a slightly slower pace, with Torquay able to win the ball and put some pressure on the Newtown defenders. But despite some really good work in our attacking half, there was no change to the final score. A good win to Newtown White. Thanks to A. Reilly for filling in this week.
Division 1 Men
Newtown Falcons vs Corio 6-4. Another exhibition of high quality hockey was witnessed on Sunday afternoon when the Falcon’s took on old rivals Corio in round 5 of the Men’s Division 1 Championship. In a high scoring affair the Falcons were victorious after coming from behind in the first half. The Falcons scored the first goal of the match. However Corio hit back to take the lead 3/2 at half time. The younger and fitter Falcons maintained a higher level of intensity to score an additional 4 goals to Corio’s 1 in the second half. Goal scorers for the match were A. Jones (2), H. Dolenc (2), J. Humphries (1), and J. Jirik (1). The team was kept in the game by a strong defense against a number of highly skilled Premier League strikers and a brilliant display of goal keeping by J. Wilkosz.
This game capped off the first round of matches. Next week the Falcons play Torquay who they defeated 8/3 in the first match of the year.
Division 1 Women
Newtown Falcons vs Torquay 6-0. The first half was an even game with good defence by both teams. Falcons scored one goal in the first half. The second half started with Falcons starting very hard and with good passing and team work we scored six goals. Goals were scored by P. Beckworth 1, S. Ryan 1, E. Hobson 1 and C. Pearson 4. Congratulations for a great team effort and another good win.
Division 2 Men
Newtown Maroon vs Saints 4-0. Newtown Maroon had a tough game against Saints in the rain on sand at the College, struggling up front but remaining solid in defence with C. Champion playing a great game at back and M. Andrews making some exceptional saves against some tough shots on goal. Final score 4 – 0 with everyone thoroughly drenched.
Newtown White vs Corio 5-1. Newtown White is starting to settle on what the team will look like this season with a good mixture of youth and experience. We were keen to play strongly against Corio this week by concentrating on basic structured hockey on a wet Geelong College surface. Corio came out very strongly and scored first by linking up with good fast short passes against the run of play. After this goal Newtown lifted another gear and started playing dominant fast hockey with goals starting to come as a result. Newtown went to the break having just scored a second goal and then in the second half created many short corner opportunities for three more goals.
Division 2 Women
Newtown Maroon vs Torquay 7-0. Under threatening skies Newtown Maroon took on an undermanned Torquay side. The forward line were quick off the mark with great passes from H. Brennan to set up many runs at goal. The defence were put under a bit of pressure but solid clearances from H. Davis, A. Woodhead and K. Brennan kept Torquay goalless. With support from J. Gebert on the right, the forwards were rewarded with 3 goals before half time. The second half saw the forwards off and running with K. Smoker winding up for a few more goals and D. Firth well placed for a deflection. Special thanks to P. Stewart and M. Shears for filling in. Welcome back to B. Charleson.
Newtown White vs Saints – forfeit by Saints.