Round 3 of the 2016 hockey season showed how dedicated we all are to our favourite sport – hot weather on Saturday, and completely the opposite on Sunday with very cold rainy conditions.
Kookas Mid-week Junior
Friday saw another fantastic game in the Kookas hockey season, with some great improvements in skills and teamwork leading to a very enjoyable game – Team Red vs Team Orange. Team Orange got on the scoreboard early with great focus on passing to team mates in space, and great use of the back pass by Zac and the two Sams. Cate and Ben led well to spaces, and were always ready to receive the ball and create attacks. Amy and Ella intercepted many forward moves and turned it to their team’s advantage. In the second half, Sam H put his dad, Dave under pressure to defend the goal but he did it well, passing out wide to avoid a score.
Under 8
Newtown Rebels vs Kardinia 3
This round saw the Rebels up against Kardinia 3. Ruby (Strikers) stood in as a great replacement for Surry and Seb. Big thanks to Ruby! Hana came back from a week off and was full of confidence. She intercepted and ran the ball down the field and also was a star in defence, putting pressure on the Kardinia players. Georgie showed some fantastic all-round skills across the whole field, great stick work stopping and passing the ball. What an awesome effort for only her second game! The first half was very congested at times limiting our chances at finding space to pass and shoot for goals. However with Hamish moving into the middle from defence, he was able to move the ball down the field to set up play and enable his team mates to score.
In the second half, Scarlett and Mai put pressure on the opposition. They moved into position reading the play well which gave them the opportunity to work together to score for the Rebels. Hannah was very impressive with her strong passes from the sideline, trying to move the ball quickly but finding her best options as well. Hana was awarded our Best Team Player for her determination and super skills throughout the game. Well done Hana!
We need to continue working on moving forward with the attacking play and getting into a position that the ball can be passed to. Great game Rebels!
Newtown Spirit v Kardinia Kookaburras
Newtown Spirit was at full strength when it took to the field against Kardinia Kookaburras in Under 8 competition at Lloyd Reserve on Saturday. The team enjoyed most of the attack in the first half, where play was at times congested as players converged on the ball with enthusiasm. At half time Coach Kellie set her charges a task to help counteract the crowded play, urging her players to pass off immediately to a teammate rather than run with the ball. The tactic, with an emphasis on going wide, aimed to open up play and bypass the waiting cluster of opposition positioned directly in front of the ball.
Spirit, aiming to achieve `five passes’ between teammates each time, threw themselves into the second half. There were some rewarding examples of passing to well-positioned players as Spirit attempted to stick more to their positions in an effort to spread out the action. Meyah received the Best Team Player award for the match in recognition of her good play, positioning and ability to pass to teammates running into openings.
Newtown Raiders vs College Green
The best game of the hockey season so far for Newtown Raiders, with some great calling and better spreading out and use of space. Quick free passes were very effective, with Isabel placing the ball for Eliza-May to produce precision passes to team mates in good position. Jesse, Charlotte and Oscar kept sticks on the ground and were able to hassle the opposition and gain possession. Great movement in the centre by Cate helped to create doubt in the opposition minds, and she found some space to play the ball into attack, and with Amelia in great position at left wing there were some nice runs into the forward zone. Great work by all players. Best Team Player award to Eliza-May.
Newtown Strikers – Bye.
Thanks to Ruby, Amelia and Alex for filling in for other teams.
Under 11 North
Newtown Rebels vs Bellarine Thunder 10-1
Newtown Rebels had another great game and another good win on Saturday at Stead Park against Bellarine Thunder, winning 10-1. Kiah (3), Olivia (2) and Basyl (1) were fantastic in attack in the first half. In the second half, Coach AJ swapped our attackers and mid-fielders, resulting in Mia, Patrick, Sam and Tejai scoring one goal each. Imogen did a great job as goalkeeper for the day and Brandon and Grace are doing really well to clear the ball out of our defensive half. The team is showing great use of strategic play out of defence, worthy of more experienced teams.
U11 Newtown Rebels vs Bellarine Thunder
Under 11 South
Newtown Strikers vs Newtown Spirit 0-10
Newtown Strikers worked hard in the first half to gain possession of the ball, with Declan covering many of Spirit’s avenues to attack, but crowded play meant Strikers were unable to turn back Spirit’s attacks and create their own forward moves. Great play by Nathan at full back, meeting the Spirit attack early and using team mates well from free passes out of defence. Michael, in goals for the second time, stopped many shots at goal by Spirit, but determination and great following up by Spirit saw them score on a number of occasions. Great running by Grace to gain possession of the ball, and good ball control created some forward thrust. The second half saw some space open up in attack for Strikers, with Jack, Gil and Owen making some nice runs into the scoring zone for Strikers. Nathan and Kenna at full back continued to work well together and better use of wide passes in the midfield will produce improved chances for Strikers to create scoring opportunities. Best Team Player awards to Grace and Nathan.
Under 13
Newtown Strikers vs Newtown Spirit 3-2
Newtown Strikers met Newtown Spirit in the U13s hockey season at Stead Park on Saturday morning. It was a close and really enjoyable game of hockey with the Spirit in front early and then the Strikers coming back to win 3-2. A number of parents went out of their way to say how well the kids from both teams played and how the game was played in an excellent spirit.
The Strikers made great ground in implementing their team strategy of holding onto the ball for longer periods and running hard to create viable options for the player with the ball. Very few times were there a ‘group’ of Strikers players camped around the ball. This meant that the ball could go sideways and backwards more readily instead of the lower percentage option of playing straight through the defence.
Best players on the day were Miles, Ella and Oscar. A special mention to Angus S who fronted up for his first game ever, in goal no less, and put in a terrific effort.
Newtown Spirit vs Newtown Strikers 2-3
This week was a hard fought game between the two Newtown U13 teams. There was some excellent team play shown by Spirit players. We saw some nice through balls to Amelia by Will, Jarrett and Jamie which created some great opportunities. Welcome to Charley who played her first game with Newtown and showed some great pace, and to Max who joined the Spirit team. Both Newtown teams should be proud of their efforts and congratulations to Newtown Strikers who won 3:2.
U13 Newtown Spirit vs Newtown Strikers
Under 15
Newtown Strikers vs Golden Plains 5-0
Round 3 brought a 5:0 victory to the Strikers against Golden Plains. Strong defence kept the opposition scoreless whilst the ability to capitalise on open play had the Strikers securing early goals in both halves. Goal scorers on the day were Hailey and Oscar with the most valuable player awarded to both Eneko and Lexie for their constantly good positioning.
Newtown Spirit vs Torquay 1-1
U15 Spirit drew 1-1- with Torquay in a highly competitive encounter. Throughout the first half both sides had scoring opportunities denied by strong defence and goal keeping. Eventually the stalemate was broken with a goal by Jack, one of three Newtown Striker players filling in. The arm wrestle continued after the break with both teams continuing to defend strongly. Torquay eventually took advantage of an opening with a scrambled goal that levelled the score. With the game reaching the final 5 minutes both teams, perhaps sensing the post-match glucose reward, lifted the intensity and produced the most attacking hockey of the match. But again strong defence and outstanding goal keeping denied both teams from adding to the score line.
Under 17
Newtown Strikers vs Kardinia 1-1
The weather was certainly wild when we fronted up to Stead Park on Sunday morning to play Kardinia. Coach refused to sit in the bunker on the opposite side of Pitch 1 due to the horizontal drizzle so we set up camp in front of the clubrooms. Kardinia caught us by surprise early in the game to score a goal. We had good drive through the middle with Erin intercepting many attacks and switching play through the middle. Ollie laid some great tackles and provided good drive up the right side of the field. Despite us controlling most of the play and holding the ball in our forward line for the bulk of the first half, the disciplined Kardinia defence played crowded the D every time we drove forward. At half time it was clear that Kardinia were going to prevent us from getting clean shots at goal we so set our aim to earn some short corners in the second half. We put this plan in to place and it paid off when Tom P scored a goal from a short. Despite some great play in the second half we missed a few opportunities and unfortunately the win slipped away from us.
Newtown Spirit vs Saints 6-0
Round 3 arrived – sadly, back to regular hockey weather with howling wind and horizontal rain!! This was not a motivating feature for our team to start the match with. Already 7 players down, with 2 long term injuries amongst them, Spirit was able to scrounge enough to field a side of 10 to play today. Thanks to Nick P and Laurence A for stepping in for us!!
Slow start with hands needing to thaw out and running slow and response times not firing initially. Much of the play was up Spirit’s 25 in the first half of the game, however untidy set up and poor communication meant that Spirit was only able to score 1 goal (Dan – happy 100th Game Dan!!) before the half time break.
Don was not backwards in spelling out the faults in the game at half time, and the players were much more responsive and aggressive in their play during the second half, with the sun appearing to help thaw them out!!
Much better team efforts and communication during this latter part of the game allowed better passages of play and therefore more effective completion of opportunities, with goals being scored by Dan, Gabe, Cassidy, Jonah and Lach to finish the game 6:0. Saints sadly looked flat and depleted so were unable to provide an effective opposition for much of the game. Looking forward to having our crew back (well at least the uninjured ones!) next week, though more will be out due to Wildcats trials in Melbourne. Good luck to any of those players trialling for U15 and U17 teams for JSC.
Division 1 Men
Newtown Falcons vs Torquay Tornadoes 8-1
A slightly relaxed start to the game vs Torquay’s 2nd team, the Tornadoes, saw the Falcons fall a goal behind early into the first half, but that was the extent of the scoring for the newly promoted Torquay Tornadoes. The Falcons bossed possession, and had the vast bulk of attacks during the rest of the game, with a multitude of short corners and open play attacks, due to well constructed ball and player movement, solid on the ball play, and silky skills saw the Falcons end the game with a convincing 8-1 victory. Goals to Will (3), Nick (4) and Adham (1).
Newtown Strikers vs Saints 0-8
Some might see an 8 nil loss as a thrashing but on the contrary, it was a well fought game with a number of short corners converted by a skilled opposition. While our team is still finding itself, I’m confident that if we continue to work at our short game and defensive accountability it won’t be long till we have a win on the board.
Division 1 Women
Newtown Falcons vs Saints 0-1
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay 0-4
The Strikers had a well fought out game against Torquay in terrible conditions. Our midfield did a good job moving the ball up forward but we were unsuccessful in getting it in the goals. There were several great saves from our backline thanks to Emma P, Katie J, Meg K and Jen W. Unfortunately Torquay overran us in the end to score 4 to nil.
Division 2 Men
Newtown Spirit vs Torquay 4-3
Newtown Spirit played off against Torquay’s D2 Men’s team this week. The team as a whole played exceptionally well across the board. Particularly given it was only our second game for the season and Torquay came out at a frenetic pace. The U17 players are getting used to the strong standard of play. We also welcomed Ahmer for his first Newtown Mens game. Ian also celebrated his run with the team by scoring a goal. This time Torquay beat us 4 goals to 3, but with stronger marking, being firmer on the ball and accurate hard passing we should get the points next time around.
Division 2 Women
Newtown Rebels vs Torquay 1-4
A full team and a full commitment from the start for the Rebels. Despite Torquay’s speed in the centre, Rebels marked well but were unlucky to concede 3 goals in the first half. The second half saw Rebels take the ball wide to avoid the centre with a lot of fast moves up the wings. A solid shot from Andy through to Shannon, was beautifully deflected by Kirsty to gain Rebels well earnt team goal. Great play in defence with Claire under constant attack in goals but well supported with Hil, Jan and Colleen.
