2017 Hockey Season – August 5 & 6

2017 has been a memorable hockey season so far, with the Club celebrating its 40th Anniversary and continuing to grow in strength. With only a few weeks to go before the finals, we may have lots more to celebrate if this week’s games are anything to go by.

Kookas

With the return of Charlie and Emily this week, the game was played at a fast pace and with some great skills on display. Emily’s reverse stick trap was again on show, allowing her to quickly pass to team mates in good position. Braydn as always is keen to get to the ball first and to create space in front of goal, and with some great passing to and from his team mates, there was some fantastic hockey played. Justine continues to show great skills and understanding of the game, despite having played only a few games. Lennie’s passing is good, with some lovely co-operation with those close to him.

Under 8

Newtown Rebels vs Newtown Spirit

Rebels had another fantastic match this week, playing extremely well against Newtown Spirit. Both teams kept their positions well throughout the game and everyone contributed well, making it a great game to watch! In the first half Rebels got off to a strong start, moving forward well and dominating the opposition. The team was relentless in their pursuit of the ball and showed amazing persistance, never giving up when Spirit had the ball.

At half-time Colleen praised the team’s efforts, particularly their positioning and excellent team work. In the second half, Rebels continued to move forward but also had to fight off some strong attacks from the Spirit team. Despite this, Rebels remained the dominant team in the game. All in all, Rebels again displayed excellent team work and they keep improving and gaining confidence with each game played.

Aiden was awarded Subway Player of the Week for most improved player, particularly his strong attacking skills.

Newtown Spirit vs Newtown Rebels

Spirit battled valiantly against an attacking Rebels outfit in the latest round of Under-8 competition at Lloyd Reserve on Saturday. Spirit had to lock down its defence against the talented opposition right from the starting whistle, with full back Michael capably and calmly repelling many hits on goals. Juliette positioned herself well out wide on the wing and used her stick effectively to block Rebels’ forward runs while Drew and Braydn were also determined in defence. Baxter, who managed to control the ball beautifully, was a workhorse in shutting down the fast-moving opposition. Michael took some great free hits including a powerful one to centre forward Pollyanna, who trapped it cleanly before setting off into attack. Neve, on loan from Rebels to even up player numbers, was a welcome addition to Spirit and added strength to the team across right half.

At half time Coach Kellie praised the Spirit players for their great work under pressure, applauding their marking and second efforts. She urged them to use their ‘’clock face’’ positioning to give Michael more options when taking free hits deep in defence. She also called on them get back and defend again if the ball got past them. Spirit sprang into action in the second half, enjoying more of the attack than they had in their opening stanza and putting pressure on their opposition’s backline. But Rebels were keen to add further to their goal tally and kept on battling. Spirit centre half back Drew stood strong and Baxter and Michael worked hard to keep the ball clear. All Spirit players dug deep, keeping their sticks down, putting in second and third efforts and marking opposition players despite Rebel success in goaling again.

After the game Coach Kellie applauded her players for their work ethic, marking and determination to control the ball. She also paid tribute to strong decision making by Spirit players in free-hit taking and positioning. Baxter received the Subway Best Team Player award for a fantastic two halves, characterised by smart decisions, slick skills, strategic play and a never-say-die attitude. Well done Baxter on a great match and thanks Neve for filling in for Spirit.

Newtown Strikers vs College Green

Strikers this week took on a large College team. The first half saw great passing out wide and calling for the ball. All players had many touches of the ball with it being moved around well. Stella once again was great in defence stealing many balls from the opposition. Strikers this week were hungry for the ball and in search of goals. Unfortunately just could not get them through the cones.

In the second half, Strikers held their positions, which meant plenty of passing opportunities, enabling passing from wing to wing. The boys (Alex, Sam and Will) attacked strongly, with the only Strikers’ goal coming from Matilda who ran onto a great pass from Alex from the wing, it was so quick and smooth the College goalie didn’t even see the ball. Great hockey. Stella finished off the game in goals fending off several goal attempts and Bella and Lucinda handling plenty of the ball in the centre and wing areas.  Unfortunately Alex left the field after a hit to the hands.

It was a great game to watch this week from the side lines with great passing and holding positions, which made passing the ball to players in space very easy. Matilda received the Subway Encouragement award for hungry attacking and scoring a goal. Well Done.

Newtown Raiders vs Kardinia Kookaburras

A great game by Raiders this week some good examples of focus on the ball proving its benefits. Jesse gained possession with his stick on the ground on a number of occasions and continued to move the ball forward to his team’s advantage. Hannah and Issy were everywhere, and good strong passes by Oscar and Hannah allowed Oliver and his team mates to take the ball into attack. Chloe and Lily provided great support in midfield and thoughtful disposal to Raiders players. Great work by Lily in defending the goal in the second half, even though she wasn’t feeling well. Subway Best Team Player award to Jesse.

Under 10

Newtown Strikers vs Golden Plains 0-0

Thank you firstly to Seb for volunteering to help Strikers.

Saturday saw great play from everyone and quite a few attempts on goals and lots of short corners for our team to attempt to score goals. Great play from Jai and Charlie running down the field and making strong passes to open up the play. Amelia and Eliza May made good decisions passing out wide to each other. Eliza consistently stopped the run from Golden Plains with her tackles. There was great persistence from everyone in front of goals, creating goal scoring opportunities. The team also spread out in front of the opposition goals to defend. Seb showed some great stick skills throughout the game. Emma had great calling from the wings and knew when to move in closer to gain the ball. Ruby made great decisions when under pressure and Alex kept the game moving by taking quick penalty shots. Amber in goals successfully stopped all the short corners by Golden Plains. Well done team, you have all come so far this season as we had previously lost 0-5 to this team.

Best Team Player awards were presented to Jai, Charlie and Amber.

Newtown Spirit vs Torquay Tornadoes 0-2

This week we had Lucy as our Captain and  Hamish (on his birthday) as the Goalie, again! The game saw us needing to take the ball out wide, and not through the middle, constantly mark our players and have a good go at getting to the ball first. Kellie did identify that there were times when the Torquay players were unsure where to hit, because we had our opposition marked so well. We were also doing well at taking our “frees” quickly which meant the opposition were not in the position they needed to be in, and we then we had a much better play at the ball. We needed to work on big sweeps and starting to move ourselves on an angle not directly into “Jakarta”.

Kellie gave Best Team Player awards to Hana for always being in a position “ready to go” and to Grace for a great game all round.

Under 12

Newtown Strikers vs Torquay 2-0

Great game Strikers!

The weather conditions were near perfect for playing hockey with only a slightly icy wind, but lovely blue skies and sunshine. The kids enjoyed the game and the parents enjoyed watching with lots of encouragement and positive feedback being given. Jack scored in the first half and Ruby scored her first goal of the season midway through the second half with a lovely pass by Tom. Kenna did a great job as goalie for the first time. With our back line on fire in defense they gave her great support.

Congratulations to Torquay who played a great game and were very competitive with an undermanned side. Cameron worked hard all game earning him a well deserved best on field with Jack and Archie also playing an outstanding game.

Newtown Rebels vs Bellarine Lightning 4-1

Rebels  started strongly against Bellarine Lightning with 3 first half goals to nil.  Sharp passing in the ‘D’ kept Lightning under tremendous pressure.  Despite Lightning not having a goalie, their excellent defence made Rebels work hard for each goal.

The second half saw Lightning score an early goal, but Rebels kept their composure to score a fourth goal. Rebels finished the game winning 4-1.  Hoalscorers for the Rebels were Kiah, Pat, Lachlan and Isobel.  It was an all-round great team effort.

Newtown Spirit vs Geelong College 5-2

Spirit had a full team and a bench until half time when Oli had to leave us. Mitchell took to the goals with great enthusiasm and as it turned out with great skill!. It was a wonderful game by all the Spirit players. Some wonderful passages of play saw us score comfortably which lifted the spirits greatly. Positions were held well and the ball was kept out of the middle for the most part of the game.

The most thrilling part of the game came when Daniel found himself in the perfect position to score a goal. The whole team were just so excited for him and there were hugs and high 5’s all around.
Maggie, Mia and Matilda had a fabulous triangle going through the game and used each other really well. Gus was solid in full back although Pete did tell him to play high. He played so high he scored twice….! Edie cemented herself as a very competent full back with not much getting past her the entire game and once again India was unlucky not to score. Harry had a great game with some great runs with the ball which pushed the team forward. Lachie also had a great game and moves confidently into different positions. Well done everyone on a great 5-2 win.

Under 14

Newtown Spirit vs Newtown Strikers 2-1

Spirit hosted Strikers in a Newtown derby for Round 11, and with the players on both teams sharing some good friendships, it was fitting for the game to be held during the “Fair Go Sport” round.

The game was off to a fast start, with some nice passing from Jamie enabling Harry to reach the top of the D, but his reverse-stick hit on goal was deflected by Strikers’ goalkeeper Gus. Spirit then drew a short corner but Strikers’ defence cleared the ball. Strikers then took the ball into attack and Ben dribbled quickly past Spirit’s defenders and Lotte was in perfect position to get the ball past Max to take Strikers to a 1-nil lead.

Strikers had the momentum and another push forward reached the D but Spirit was able to hit it clear and then take the ball into attack, through a nice pass from Riley up to Will. Unfortunately, Will’s reverse-stick hit at goal was wide. A mix-up in defence nearly resulted in Ben scoring another goal for Strikers, but Spirit’s goalkeeper Max defended well. And on the opposite side of the field, Gus also defended well to keep Jamie’s reverse-stick hit from scoring. Spirit kept the pressure on Strikers with some excellent tackling from Harley, and we saw great passing under pressure from Riley, Claudia and Harley to close out the half.

Newtown Strikers vs Golden Plains 5-1

There was a cold icy wind blowing at the start of the game so it was no surprise to see lots of Strikers leading for the ball (or were they just trying to keep warm?).  Whatever the reason, it doesn’t really matter because there was plenty or hard running on show.

It was another great game in defence.  Corey, Ollie and Rachael V combined very well once again without a goalie to make sure that Golden Plains couldn’t get the ball into our defensive 25m area which they did superbly; only letting the ball through once in the entire game and that was in the first 5 minutes of the game.  They were very well supported by Rachel S and Declan who seems to have found a new strength as a half back reading the play and dropping to fill gaps in defence.

Meanwhile, the midfield led by Callum kept driving the ball into our offensive zone.  Scoring was not easy because our forward D was always congested.  However we managed to get 5 goals on the board, with some great set ups from Tom, Jonah and Erin.  There was a good spread of goal scorers (including a 3^rd goal from Sam in 3 weeks) which shows that we’re not too dependent on any individual.  In fact the Golden Plains coach complemented us after the game on our constant passing and 1-2’s which he very much envied.

Newtown Spirit vs Kardinia 0-1

Division 1 Men

Newtown Strikers vs Saints Black 0-6

Another competitive game from the Strikers and as usual the final score line doesn’t do justice to the way that we played.  Throughout the game we were able to clear our defensive line well, giving us a number of opportunities to push up the field and have some opportunities on goal.  There were some gutsy efforts from Hudson playing most of the second half after taking a hit to the knee and Jimmy was on the wrong end of a deflected ball into his nose (luckily no stitches required, just some magic glue). With 3 games left in the season, versus Falcons, Geelong and then Torquay Tornadoes, it will provide us with a great chance to gauge how much we’ve improved this season and hopefully put some goals in the back of the net.

Newtown Falcons vs Geelong Jaguars 2-2

Falcons were once again at a disadvantage with limited player numbers, and thanks to Beau, were able to get 11 players on the field. The game started without a full team, but as players took the pitch, the game settled. This was a great game by both teams, with plenty of ‘Ooh, ah’ moments for the spectators. There was plenty of calling, switching and passing, but both defences played strongly against the pressure applied by the opposition attackers. Hamish scored the first goal for Falcons from open play with the ball crossing from right to left and back again. The score at half time was 1-2.

A quick chat at half time and advice to slow down and hold the ball until support players were in position before passing was effective. Falcons followed this advice time and again, creating plenty of attack and a number of short corners. Falcons tried a variety of moves on the short corners and one of these proved successful, with Zed scoring to tie the game at 2-2. This was a fantastic effort by the Falcons defence and attack combinations, leaving the coach very happy with the efforts of the team.

Division 1 Women

Newtown Falcons vs Newtown Strikers 2-0

A very enjoyable match between these two Club teams. Falcons began well with some excellent running up forward by Nicole and Hailey and close support from team mates allowed them to pick up rebounds and intercept misdirected passes. Emma P and Ainsley pushed up high and pounced on any loose balls, denying Strikers the chance to score. Midfield play by Deb, Shannon and Bec showed control and good vision to send the ball back into attack for Falcons. Great play by Eichelle in goals for Strikers prevented Falcons from capitalising on chances earned from quick play, and she was well supported by Hannah, Meg and Penny.

The second half saw Strikers continue to work hard, and advance the play to the circle on a number of occasions. Elese, Julie, Erin and Dom created pressure for the Falcons defence but calm controlled play was the order of the day. Claire, in her 700th game for Newtown, was in position in goals for Falcons if needed.

Division 2 Men

Newtown Spirit vs Golden Plains 3-4

Division 2 Women

Newtown Spirit vs Torquay 0-3

 An excellent game by Spirit against a fast and strong opposition. Confident defence by Eichelle, Tracey and Hill prevented many more goals, and with Andie, Jacinta and Beth taking proactive positions in midfield, Torquay were not able to totally dominate the game. Excellent work by Phoebe, Katelyn and Kellie created links between defence and attack, and passing the ball forward saw Katie and Deanne working hard to lead to space and put pressure on the Torquay defence. There were a number of attempts by Spirit to score, unfortunately without result. Overall, this was a great game by Spirit, who with the benefit of a full team have improved in recent weeks.