Matches for the Anzac Day Weekend showed some great spirit and endeavour by all our players – and umpires.
Play of the Week
The Play of the Week award this week goes to Sean Fitzgerald – for both his umpiring skills and his playing skills. Despite his young age (just turned 17), Sean has been doing a fantastic job for a number of years, rostering and tutoring our up and coming junior umpires, as well as umpiring himself at both junior and senior level. So it was both Sean’s calm manner and his height which was an advantage as he had to step between two opposing players to keep peace and order in a D2 Men’s match last week. Well done Sean!
And to top it off – this week Sean will play his 250th junior game for the Newtown City Hockey Club. What an amazing effort. Well done Sean.
See who else has reached games milestones so far this season.
Under 8
No games for the U8 teams this week due to Anzac Day rescheduling.
Under 11
U11 Newtown Strikers v Kardinia (3-1)
Another great game for the U11 Strikers this week. Most of the game was played in Newtown’s forward half, but Paige managed to try out her goal keeper gear a few times and only one Kardinia goal snuck through her defences. The midfield and forwards played particularly well, with Harry, Robbo, Jonah and Sam showing very good run and skill with the ball, with Harry scoring twice. Ella and Amity also showed good run along the wings and further forward Olivia had a good game and pushed a lovely goal through traffic from just inside the D. Izaak, Nathan and Brandon F. shored up the backline along with Paige in the goals. Brandon B was particularly impressive, showing good run and skill in his second ever game and first as captain of the team. Well done everyone.
Newtown Spirit – Bye
Newtown Rebels vs Golden Plains – match to be rescheduled.
Under 13
Newtown Spirit vs Torquay 2-1
A second win for the spirit team was a great team effort. After conceding the 1st goal early to Torquay things looked ominous but tighter defence by Angus & Sam and great goal keeping by James stopped any more scoring chances. Better movement by the forwards Declan, Olivia and Isabel helped Miles level the scores just before half time.
After half time with great emphasis on more talking Miles scored again. Then some great defending by the 2 Harry’s, Will helped out by Claudia & Taylah stopped Torquay scoring. A great 2 – 1 victory to keep the Spirit team unbeaten
Newtown Strikers vs Bellarine 2 6-0
The Strikers were on the attack from the whistle and Jamie had a shot on goal in the first few minutes following a string of passes between Caleb, Matt and Tom. The shot was shy of the left post but it wasn’t long before Jamie found the back of the goal after a strong run into the D by Miles. Miles was in the action again for the second goal with an accurate pass to Olivia who was unmarked on the right wing. Olivia pushed the ball to Tom who flicked it through the goalie’s legs for the second goal. The first half ended 3:0 following a second goal to Jamie after an intercept by Tom of a Bellarine free hit from near their own goal.
The theme continued in the second half with left wing Matt setting up the fourth goal after a run down the left wing and a well timed flick into Jamie who only had the goalie to beat. The fifth goal came courtesy of another intercepted free hit, this time by Matt who was able to pass to Jamie again for another direct hit. The sixth goal was a first career goal for Olivia who had come in from the right wing and was ideally placed on the right post to push the ball in behind the goalie. The final score was 6:0 to the Strikers.
Josh had a relatively quiet game in goal which can be attributed to the excellent defence by the half backs and full backs. The opportunities forward were testament to the excellent ball service provided by the halves and inners. All round an excellent team game and thanks also to Miles from the Spirit team for doubling up.
Under 15
Newtown Spirit vs Torquay 4-2
Round 2 had the U15 Newtown Spirit  playing against a strong Torquay side. The game started well with good attacking play resulting in 3 goals scored by Lachie (2) and Corey (1). Special note to the work done by Amber and Emily in moving the ball quickly and accurately up the field. The front line put into practice the work they have been doing in training on capitalizing on the cross goal angles and forcing the short corners. The sides remained closely matched with Torquay having 4 solid scoring chances during the first half, converting only one thanks to the defence put up by Cassidy, Tom and Miles on the back line and Luka in goals.
The second half saw us running a little slower initially as the effort of being a player down and no interchange started to take its toll in a hard running game, a goal was conceded off some fast running play by the Torquay forwards. The team quickly regrouped with Monique countering with a magnificent running goal off a tight angle on the post. At full time, the score stood at Newtown Spirit 4 : Torquay 2.
Special thanks to our borrowed players: Amber and Miles, Lachie, Tom and Emily. We could not have done it with out you. Thanks to Nik for his effort as coach and as always, to the parents for getting everyone there and supporting on the sidelines on a morning that could not decide if it was going to bathe us in warm Autumn sunshine or freeze us with arctic winds!
Under 17
U17 Newtown vs Saints (8-1)
High intensity and enthusiasm continues to be a feature of this team; the trick is trying to control the enthusiasm and remember that we still need to play defensively. After 4 early misses at goal by Newtown in a heavily crowded forward circle, the Saints quickly got the ball down to the other end and scored the first goal of the match from a corner. It was evident that our defenders were already under a lot more pressure than the previous week. However Newtown continued to press and scored some creative early goals from Jonah and Sean in the first half to bring the score to 3-1 by half time.
At the half time break, we focused on playing our positions and how this can open up the game more for us to enable more open play and reduce the crowding in the forward half. This certainly worked, with Hudson finding many more options to deliver wide out of the backline and brothers, Tom and Luke, linking up well together up the left side of the field, resulting in a goal to Tom. We were also able to earn many more corners in the second half, one of which ended up with a precision deflection from Bronte.
Another strong win but there’s always room for improvement. In our case it is remembering that defense is just as important as scoring goals. Well done again U17’s.
Division 1 Men
Newtown Falcons vs Saints Black 4-5
A slow start to the game for the Falcons, with a bit of confusion as to what structure we were using and also who was playing where, but the midfield held up and we managed to get going within 5 minutes or so and start to play the way we wanted with some fast ball movement and really solid trapping and dribbling. We were off to a good start with a lead going into the half-time break, due to some solid build up play and also some really good finishing in front of goal.
There was a period in the second half however, where we went completely to sleep in the back half and astonishingly let in 4 goals in a matter of 10-15 minutes, to our credit we did rally after this point and managed to score another couple of goals to quiet the crowd and give us a chance at a comeback, however the damage had been done, and the end score was 5-4 Saints way. A disappointing end to the game, but this will certainly lend coal to the fire and hopefully fuel the Falcons to more wins in the next few weeks.
Division 1 Women
Newtown Falcons vs Geelong 1-4
The first half started with Geelong on the attack, scoring the first goal, but Falcons fought hard to get a goal to even the game. With Geelong in attack, Falcons had to work hard in defence, with Ainsley, Nerida and Deb covering opposition moves, well backed up by Jessie who stopped many shots at goal. Nerida found that it doesn’t pay to get too close to the keeper (even your own), but despite this painful experience, continued to work hard throughout the game. The second half saw Falcons working well with Elena, Shelby and Katey running well and moving the ball into attack, but they were unable to penetrate the Geelong defence. However Geelong’s attack was very effective, resulting in 2 more goals. Great to see that Falcons continued to work hard and never gave up.
Newtown Strikers v Bellarine 3-2
Another great game for the Strikers to follow up last week’s efforts. We welcomed Marion into the team for her first game and she put in a blinder. Jess donned the goalkeeping kit and had a great game, keeping out several solid Bellarine attempts on goal and restricting them to two for the game. Out of the backline Courtney and Emma H (who we were thrilled to have fill in for us to compensate for a few outs) starred, moving the ball forward with tremendous skill and created plenty of scoring opportunities. Our first goal came from a penalty stroke which Courtney pushed through with apparent ease. Bellarine snuck one through before half time and scores were level heading into the break. After that we dominated play for much of the second half, helped by some great run from everyone, particularly Jacqui, Kelly, Dom and Marion through the middle. Forward, Marion snuck through a goal great from the post and Emma smashed another one through the Bellarine defences. Bellarine pegged one back but we managed to hold on to notch up our first win for the season. Great game ladies.
Division 2 Men
Newtown Spirit vs Geelong Blue 1-7
A very tough game for Spirit, Geelong Blue were too strong during the game. The defensive line were pushed hard to keep Geelong Blue at bay and denied a lot of scoring opportunities, however goals still managed to get through. Matt scored one goal during the second half and we had a couple of very close chances from short Corners that we couldn’t quite get home. Overall it was a great effort by everyone and we played really well together.
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay 2-1
Division 2 Women
Newtown Rebels vs Torquay 0-4
Rebels defence and midfield worked well to gain possession of the ball, with Kellie, Meg and Nerida blocking many forward moves by Torquay in the first half. But a tendency to direct the ball to the centre of the field allowed Torquay to regain control and block the path to goal. Score at half time was 0-3. Great running to the ball and persistence by Erin W and Meredith and improved use of the space along the sidelines in the second half saw Rebels with more play in our attacking half. Nice positioning by our full backs limited Torquay’s ability to get through to goal, and they were only able to score 1 more goal. Well done Rebels.
Newtown Spirit vs Saints 2-2
With a side of 10 players Spirit took to field under lights and under a massive rain cloud. The first half saw Spirit make many pushes into Saints defence. Solid defence from Andy, Hil, Bron and Remi kept Saints attacks away. Good use of the wing and a quick pass away resulted in a Spirit goal midway through.
In the second half Saints got away and scored 2 quick goals. Resettled Spirit made better use of square passes to bring play back up. Forwards Emily, Phoebe, Jacqueline, Nicola and Donna kept the attack going. A well timed corner was beautifully put away by Hil. Once again brilliant saves from Edna. A good score for a well balanced match.
