What a great hockey match!
I think we could say that about all the games this week, with some high scoring games and some very close games showing great effort by all our players.
Highlight of the Week
A great win by D2 Men Newtown Spirit, showing that determination and perseverance bring rewards.
Under 6 (Joeys)
Our youngest players continue to show some great passing skills and are learning to move to space to receive the ball. Gaining familiarity with the skills and learning the strategies used in a hockey match will set these players up for a great hockey career.
Under 8 (Minkey)
Newtown Spirit v College White
Newtown Spirit put in its best game for the season on Saturday when it took on College White in Under-8 competition at Lloyd Reserve. Spirit players showed their improvement by spreading out across the field, running into spaces marking their opposition and calling loudly in a positive sign for the coming rounds. They were in a confident mood right from the starting whistle. Half back Meyah and right wing Avah passed strongly to each other as they drove the ball forward while Max, at full back, firmly repelled several goalward runs by capable College White.
The reshuffled Newtown team went into the second half with the instructions to `take a second’ when in possession of the ball to look for team mates. And Spirit took Coach Kellie’s words to heart, with great team play starting deep in the backline culminating in centre forward Max shooting two goals. Max and left wing Phoebe combined well on several occasions to spearhead Spirit into attack. Left wing Ruben, in his first game for a month, ran into position well and used his voice loudly while Charlie, at right wing, showed his usual flair to keep the ball moving constantly forward. Ruben took home the Best Team Player award in a match where the whole team contributed strongly across the field. Great game Spirit.
Newtown Strikers vs Golden Plains
Another great Minkey hockey match from the Strikers this week, with a great team effort producing the first goal of the season. Welcome to Amy who played her first game of hockey and was awarded Best Team Player for her attention and commitment. Amelia displayed determination and grace in goals, including cartwheels. Eliza made great position getting in front of the opposition. Alex and Emma showed some neat passing of the ball, and Daniel ran hard all game despite his cold, well done for keeping on going. We’re focusing on our Minkey Mantra next week: Eyes on the ball, stick on the ground & pass the ball out wide.
Newtown Rebels vs Geelong
This week Newtown Rebels played Geelong. They had a really good match and are becoming more of a team. New player Surry joined the team this week and had a big impact in his first game. Highlights included passing the ball and being in good positions to receive it and calling for the ball. Some work is still needed in staying in position and at times not crowding around the ball. Mai won the Best Team Player award, staying in position during the first half and fighting hard and tackling well in the second. Well played all and go Rebels!
Under 11
Newtown Spirit vs Golden Plains 0-1
Newtown Spirit played Golden Plains for the first time this season. It was a very quiet game for our Spirit team with very little talking between the players. The first half saw some really good passages of play with Gus, Mia and Maggie working well together on the right. Unfortunately we were unable to convert a goal despite many attacking passages of play. The second half was not as good as the first with positions not being played as tightly. There were often too many of our players around the ball instead of creating space. Frustratingly Golden Plains were able to get one past the keeper, Ely, who had been playing a great game stopping a number of balls before and after the goal. Best Team Player awards this week went to Xander and Maggie, both well deserving recipients.
Newtown Strikers vs Rebels 8-5
What a terrific hockey match – both sides played very well in an entertaining and high scoring game. Forward, Harry, Olivia, Amity, Sam S., Imogen and first game player, Amelia, all produced some great runs and skills to move the ball forward and create some great scoring opportunities. On the half line Samuel, Sam R and Meyah thwarted several attacking runs from the Rebels and Brandon and Izaak combined with Paige in goals to provide a very solid last line of defence. Scores were level at half time (5-5) but the Strikers pulled away to win 8-5 by the final whistle. Three goals each to Harry and Olivia and one each to Sam S and Sam R. Best Team Player awards to Imogen for her work at right wing, using the corner well, and Izaak for his fantastic focus on the ball and defensive work, clearing plenty of balls otherwise destined for Rebel goals. Final thanks to captain for the week, Amity, who delivered what was certainly the best ‘three cheers’ at the end of the game that we’ve heard all season – well done!
Newtown Rebels vs Newtown Strikers 5-8
What an exciting game, it had all the parents in anxious mode. There was lots of fantastic work by everyone. In the defence both Bailey & Ezekiel managed to keep our opponents at bay. Both our goal keepers Kiah & Charlotte did great work. Excellent work by Flynn, Locke, Harry who managed a goal & Basyl who scored 4 goals. Claire, Taylah & Zoe all did lots of great passing. There certainly has been lots of improvement! Well done Team.
Under 13
Newtown Spirit vs Torquay Tornadoes 0-1
A really great team effort on Saturday in the fighting loss to the second top team Torquay Tornadoes. A great first half with excellent teamwork & talking resulting in nil-nil score at half time. Only a late second half goal to Torquay broke the deadlock. It was the teamwork that really stood out. Great goal keeping from James, solid defence from the 2 Angus’ helped out by Sam, Declan & Harry, & plenty of run provided by Miles, Will & Isabel provided plenty of chances for Olivia & Claudia. With a bit of luck they could have leveled the score late. Plenty of positives to work on in the next few weeks.
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay 1-2
A strong start by Torquay indicated that this would be a tough hockey match with no soft goals on offer. Play for the first 15 minutes or so was back and forwards between the goals but with no real opportunities for scoring. Torquay struck the first blow at the 20 minute mark and quickly followed up with a second goal from a short corner. The Strikers were able to respond just before half time with a series of passes between Tom, Jamie and Miles to end the first half 2:1 down.
The majority of play in the second half was inside Torquay territory and the Strikers had numerous attempts on goal from both short corners and general play, however they were not able to penetrate the Torquay defence. There were no further goals scored with the game ending 2:1 to Torquay. A tough game in the end and the first real test for the Strikers this season, which demonstrated that we still have some work to do on both attack and defence. It was however encouraging to see that the team didn’t give up trying despite being behind on the scoreboard for the whole game. Great effort against tough opposition.
Under 15
Newtown Spirit vs Geelong 3-1
Round 6 was the top of the table clash with both Spirit U15 and Geelong being undefeated so far this season. Newtown Spirit stepped out onto the field confident and it showed in the strong and confident hockey the team played in the first 1/2, resulting in 3 unanswered goals thanks to Bronte, Monique and Jonah. Geelong came back hard in the second half forcing 3 short corners, one of which resulted in a goal. Tom, stepping up from U13 into the U15 ranks, ran the wing hard offering the ball up to his forwards through out both halves. Final score had Newtown Spirit taking the win 3:1.
Newtown Strikers vs Geelong College 2-1
Congratulations Strikers on this week’s win! A result of a great effort by everyone in the team. As usual, the score doesn’t seem to reflect just how hard everyone worked to achieve the 2-1 defeat of College! There were some fantastic moments of play, some highly contested battles with people never giving up and going solidly after the ball in attack and diligently ‘picking up a shirt’ as Marcus steadily reminded them in defence. It was great to see the value of teamwork being rewarded and individuals looking to make solid passes and getting into position to make the passes count. Congratulations to everyone on putting in and following Marcus’ instruction. Well done especially to Will who is doing a fantastic job for someone new to hockey, and Byron for scoring a goal!
Under 17
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay 14-2
The Strikers came up against an undermanned Torquay side on Sunday. We started very strongly, scoring 5 goals within the first 10 minutes of the game. Luke T and Noah played a very disciplined game keeping the Torquay wingers out of the game and providing many square pass options out of defence. Meanwhile, Bronte and Luke P played wide on the wings and provided many fast-break opportunities down the line. Alex played a great game at centre forward presenting many opportunities to his team mates; he couldn’t seem to do a thing wrong and the highlight of the game was his miss-trap that was deflected into the goals. The team played very well and continued their high work rate as they have all year. Well done Strikers and keep up the great work.
Division 1 Men
Newtown Falcons vs Saints Red 13-1
With a number of unavailable players this week, the game vs Saints Red looked to be a tight one considering their pretty full team. However, with the quality of players in this undermanned Falcons side, we managed to control the vast majority of the game due to experience and hard running.
Saints did continue to work hard under the onslaught, and managed to break away a number of times, potentially due to the missing player, but also the high press that we were attempting to play with. In the end Saints did manage to put a goal past our defence late into the 2nd half, but with the score finishing at 13-1 it was not a game threatening lapse in concentration.
With a tough fixture vs Torquay next week hopefully we will be able get a few more numbers and put on a good show for the fans that attend the club day. Goals to Will (3), Leo (1), Luke H (1), James H (2), James J (2), Adrian (1) and Kieran (3).
Division 1 Women
Newtown Falcons vs Saints 9-1
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay 3-6
Great team game from the Strikers this week. We avoided blasting the ball through the middle too much this week and instead moved the ball well down the wing through combinations of Dom, Tiahna, Bec and Emily and Kate, Eliza, Kelly B and Jacqui. Play was controlled and well directed by Courtney at centre half and defence was very solid thanks to Sam and the addition of Meg filling in for us this week. Some great saves from Jess in goal once again thwarted several scoring attempts from Torquay. Torquay scored first against the run of play after about 10 minutes, but we quickly pegged it back with a wonderful flick from Courtney as part of a great short corner play. Unfortunately Torquay scored another and then a further two in quick succession just before half time, giving them a 4-1 lead going into the break. They scored two more, but so did we (one each to Julie and Jacqui) in a more even second half. Overall a very pleasing game despite the final score. Thanks to Emily and Kelly for doubling up and Meg for filling in to compensate for a few outs this week -greatly appreciated.
Division 2 Men
Newtown Strikers vs Geelong Blue 2-3
Funnily enough in probably our best game of the season we ended up losing 3 goals to 2. Apart from a slow patch of 15 mins in the first half, the game was played at a fast pace with Newtown having multiple scoring opportunities, though we were only able to convert via two fantastic short corner hits by Adam Reilley. Movement out of defence worked well with both Craig and Fitzy releasing though the half backs to get around a strong mid field defence. Although we would have of course preferred to come out on top, I was proud of the way that the team lifted their intensity and gave everything they could in the second half and having now played the majority of teams in the competition, it will be a very interesting second half of the season and even more entertaining finals campaign.
Newtown Spirit vs Geelong White 2-0
This week was a tough and very even game but resulted in a 2 – 0 win to Newtown against Geelong White. During the first half, the match was very even with both teams having scoring opportunities but neither side being able to convert these chances to goals. Both teams worked hard and made it very difficult to get into the D let alone have a shot on goal. The second half started well but the strong defence kept both teams scoreless until around 15 minutes in when Newtown were able to score. Spirit continued to work hard and were able to put a second goal away before full time. Overall both teams had great games and excellent movement of the ball.
Division 2 Women
Newtown Spirit vs Corio 5-0 – forfeit by Corio
Newtown Rebels vs Golden Plains 3-0
A great hockey match and a great result for Newtown Rebels with some excellent hockey played by all the team. Strong defence right from Colleen and Tracey on the back line prevented Golden Plains from gaining any real control of the game. A great midfield game by Chloe in her first senior game, with great composure and controlled passing to forwards Amber and Erin created attacks down the left side. Amber scored the first goal for Newtown, with a beautifully executed penalty stroke. Great use of space and ball control skills from Katey and Peta, combining well with Erin at right wing and in the right position, saw many attacks make it to the circle and goals scored by Katey and Erin. Kellie and Bron worked hard for the whole game and cut off many of Golden Plains forward moves. Well done all.
