Junior teams were back this week for the last part of the hockey season, and the run to the finals.
Kookas
Justine joined us for Kookas this week, and in her first game of hockey, showed great skills and great understanding of where and when to run and call for the ball. At the request of the boys, it was ‘Girls vs Boys’ when teams were selected. The Girls worked very well, stringing together a number of passes, and switching the play to move forward into attack. Great passing and then running to space by Justine, Ebony and Olivia with Kristy solid in defence saw the Girls put the early scores on the board. Tom, Darren and Yonie ran well and were hard to beat for pace.
The Boys regrouped in the second half, and with Lennie and Braydn making some great position in front of goals, and using team mates with a better angle, they were able to score a number of goals to even up the game.
Joeys
Dribbling skills are improving each week as the hockey season progresses. The players are showing great vision and awareness when moving through the ‘Monster Forest’, using changes of direction to avoid being caught. A game of ‘Keepings Off’ is a fun way to finish, with great passing and scanning for team mates from Alexander and Lachlan. Braxton called well to let his team mates know he was available, and Jasmine and Maia made some excellent passes. George and Harrison were always keen to get the ball and ready when it came their way.
Under 8
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay
This week Strikers took on a strong Torquay. It was a little light on for Newtown players, so the starting team was topped up with a few ‘fill ins’ from the other Newtown U8 teams. In the first half Torquay attacked very strongly with several goals scored. Both teams really struggled to spread out in the first half. Despite this, Stella had plenty of the ball and Alex also did extremely well as goalie defending Torquay’s many shots on goal.
In the second half Newtown started to spread out and pass the ball out wide. Will took the field playing in his favourite position up forward, dribbling and passing well in attack. Chloe and Bella were solid in defence and after her huge effort early Stella rested her legs as goalie. Matilda scored Newtown’s only goal with a fantastic pass from Will on the wing.
The second half was much better hockey by Newtown with everybody calling for the ball and holding their positions to create space and passing opportunities. A well-deserved Subway encouragement award for Stella. Great Job Stella.
Newtown Raiders – Bye
Newtown Spirit vs College Green
Spirit took on College Green with enthusiasm in their first Under-8 game at Lloyd Reserve after the winter holiday break. The young Newtown team had to dig deep in defence on several occasions to keep College at bay in a first half dominated by congested play. Fullback Pollyanna repelled several College runs on goal while sweeper Baxter and halfback Michael were excellent in halting the opposition’s attacking moves.
Right wing Avah positioned herself beautifully out wide, ready to latch onto any free hits sent her way. Juliette provided clever passing options in ‘square’ position while Braydn was ready for action in the centre.
At half time Coach Kellie praised Spirit players for their skills and positioning but urged them to spread out more and keep moving forward. The coach, who reshuffled positions, also asked them to each strongly mark an opposition player for the entire second half.
After half time Spirit put together a series of effective forward attacks, which led to a two-goal haul. The first goal flowed from a fast break by Michael while the second came from a passage of play that stretched the entire field. Sweeper Oscar, filling in while club stablemate Raiders had a bye, sent the ball to Pollyanna in the centre, who then powered it to Michael. And off he went. Michael sprinted from the centre line all the way to the goals.
Baxter, at left wing, was time and again in the perfect spot out wide to get his stick to big-hitting Oscar’s great free hits while Summah performed well in attack on the right side of the field.
Coach Kellie applauded the youngsters for their efforts at the end of play, praising their ball movement, goals, positioning and marking. She awarded the Subway Best Team Player award to Juliette for her “sheer listening-to-me-ness” in strongly marking her opposition player and clever positioning, especially her ability to provide a square-pass option for teammates. Well done Juliette!
Newtown Rebels vs Kardinia
Rebels had a good solid match this week and performed well against Kardinia who played with one extra player due to the cold weather. In the first half both sides played well with strong attacks from both teams. Rebels kept their positions well, particularly as Kardinia tended to crowd in the centre of the field. Rebels showed amazing persistence, never giving up when trying to get the ball.
At half-time Colleen praised the team’s efforts and stressed the importance of passing out wide and finding space to move forward. In the second half Rebels again worked hard, defending well in the face of strong attacks from Kardinia. All in all, Rebels displayed fantastic team work and are continuing to improve their skills with each game played.
Genevieve was awarded Subway Player of the Week for most improved player.
Under 10
Newtown Spirit vs Torquay 0-3
What a great start back to the hockey season! Torquay beat us by a huge margin last match and we were able to keep their score to just 3 goals this game!! Kellie was very impressed with the players getting to the ball with their sticks down, which then gave them the ability to pick up the ball and run with it straight away. She was also praising the players for going around and pushing the ball strongly down the side of the field, which was away from the traffic of the other team. We have a new phrase “Keep out of Jakarta”, meaning ‘Keep out of the middle’. There was alot of forward running by the whole team. Kellie reinforced the need to hold onto the ball for a couple more seconds, look where your team mates are, call out where you are and continue our good positioning for the next half.
Heaps of team work saw us keep the goals to 1 in the second half. Kellie praised all the players for stopping, trapping, controlling the ball. Player of match went to Scarlett for a great game. Other awards went to Hamish for his brilliant work in the goals!!! And Ryley. Thanks to Avah for playing and congratulations to Nate on his 50th game.
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay Tornadoes 0-1
Strikers were back in action after the holiday break and played a fantastic game on the weekend. Thamindu and Amelia made great position in defence and supported Eliza in goals. Elliott, Emma and Eliza May made great passes from the wing and playing the ball along the line. Alex held her position well and used some great calling to provide options for keeping the ball moving.
Jai and Isla kept at the ball throughout the midfield and looking for options for attacking the goals. Amber and Anna kept in their positions creating options throughout the game and followed the play to minimise turnovers. Ruby stood her ground and made great choices when taking penalty shots. Isabel never gave up and worked hard throughout the entire game. The team only conceded one goal for the match. It was great to see the team taking penalty shots quickly before the opposition had time to get into place. The team have been great at staying in their positions but still need to focus on getting in front of the opposition for penalties to prevent easy turnovers. Players of the match Amelia, Eliza May and Elliott.
Congratulations to Ruby who played her 25th game on Saturday.
Under 12
Newtown Spirit vs Bellarine 1-6
After a short break over the holidays the Spirit team were ready and raring to go for round 9 of the hockey season. We had a full team including a bench which was great. The team came out of the gates really well and for the first 15 minutes we were attacking really quite well down the right side. However the defence from Bellarine was proving a little tricky and we were unable to break through. As the minutes ticked on, the frustration started to show in the team and we started to lose our positional play. There was a lot of reverse stick work which Peter was not overly happy with as it created mistakes. As a result Bellarine caught the team off guard and poor Mia was left to fend for herself resulting in a couple of goals. Despite this happening Mia saved some other great shots and did really well in the goals. Matilda was always sitting high ready for the ball but it was just too hard to get it through despite some big hits from Gus. Archer seemed to be everywhere and was tackling and playing really well. Oliver seemed to spend a lot of time on his knees but this was due to trying very hard to stop Bellarine. Maggie was also like a dog at a bone and never gave up on pressuring the opposition.
At half time Peter asked the team to not use their reverse stick tomahawk. The team listened although Archer briefly forgot the instructions and scored a beautifully well deserved goal through a tomahawk…….we forgave him! The second half was a mixed effort. India was well placed to score but it was not to be. Mitchell played well through the center and Liam found his fast gear to defend like there was no tomorrow. Unfortunately we just couldn’t get the ball where it needed to be and once again frustration set in and Bellarine converted too many times to mention.
Despite the score line it was not reflective of the game. Spirit were so unlucky not to convert at least once more. There were some wonderful passages of play from all the players. Lachie was moved from forward to back and transitioned really well to his role, Harry supported his team mates brilliantly. Edie had one of her best games to date and never gave up. Well done Spirit.
Newtown Strikers vs Kardinia 1-3
Great game Strikers!
The weather conditions were fairly good with the rain threatening only slightly in the first half. The kids enjoyed the game and the parents enjoyed watching with lots of encouragement and positive feedback being given. There were no goals scored by Strikers in the first half but Jack scored midway through the last half with some great support by his teammates. Ruby was our goalie for the first time and did an amazing job which earned her best on field. Cameron and Thomas also had a great game showing lots of skills in defence.
Newtown Rebels vs Torquay 0-1
Rebels took on Torquay on Saturday for our Round 9 clash.
With a number of players away ill or on holidays, we were still able to field a team of 10 players thanks to our fill-ins Alice, Jack and Olivia. It was a very even game, with both teams trying to force the ball through the centre. Torquay had more goal chances than Rebels and fortunately for them, one ball trickled past goalkeeper Sam’s feet to give Torquay a 1-nil lead early in the second half.
Our passing improved in the second half and we had a few shots at goal through Jack and Pat, but they were just wide. Torquay found it easier to get through our defence towards the end of the game, with a few more shots on goal. Rebels defenders did well to deflect them away. Final score was 1-nil to Torquay.
We’ll be hoping all of our regular players are available for the next round, as the competition is extremely close for the top few positions on the ladder heading into the finals of this hockey season.
Under 14
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay 3-1
Newtown Spirit vs Golden Plains 3-4
Ladder leader for this hockey season, Newtown Spirit played 3rd placed Golden Plains on Saturday for their Round 9 match.
Spirit knew this was going to be a tough match and the team’s intensity level was high from the start. Golden Plains also came out firing with their fast runners streaming into attack and they scored early. This was followed up soon after by a Golden Plains short corner. Some nice skills were on display with good 1-2 passing between Riley and Harry, and Ella dribbling past opponents with nice ball skills.
Spirit then drew a short corner and Oscar was perfectly placed to chip in a goal on post to level scores 1-all. Soon after, Will had a nice strike in the circle which was defended by Golden Plains’ goalie. Spirit took the lead 2-1 after Harry’s hit into goal was defended but followed up by Oscar who was there again to put the ball in. Golden Plains ocntinued to make good use of their short corners and levelled scores again, making it 2-all at half time.
In the second half, Grace scored her first goal of the season for Spirit with great positioning on the post, and nearly followed up a minute later when again near goals, she received a great pass from Harry. Spirit earned a short corner the but shot went a little wide.
Golden Plains sensed the game slipping away but they managed to lift, and scored 2 goals in the remainder of the second half, giving them the game 4-3. Max did a fantastic job in goals. There were many strong hits which he deflected well, and it was great to have him return to the side this week.
Coach Carl was really happy with the team’s intensity but thought that the team held on to the ball in the centre a little too long. We’ll be looking forward to the action if these two teams play again in the finals.
Under 17
Newtown Strikers vs Newtown Spirit 5-6
Intraclub matches are often the hardest games and this proved to be correct on Saturday morning. Once again, we looked like we were going to struggle for numbers but fortunately Will and Rachel V offered their services and suddenly we had the luxury of a player on the bench. We were a bit disorganised at the start of the game since we were missing our usual defenders (including our goalie) and Spirit sneaked a goal in the first 30 seconds. Coach was a bit frightened by this start and was about to rejig all positions on the field when Ollie walked in to save the day; special commendation goes to Ollie for taking control of the defence like an orchestra conductor – suddenly everyone in defence was playing in unison like a finely tuned symphony orchestra. In fact the efforts of the defence (Ollie, Rachel V, Rachael S, Callum, Will and Angus) during the remainder of the first half were so impressive that we held Spirit goalless for the rest of the first half. In the meantime we managed to score 3 goals in the first half, including a career first goal to Sam (one of many to come, we are certain) and two goals from Tom including a skilled goal from the baseline.
We thought about playing a kicking back in the second half but since we had opened up a gap in the score line we decided we wouldn’t bother (this proved to be a bad decision). Unfortunately early in the second half Callum had a fall and was kept off the field as a precautionary measure (second bad thing). He had made a significant contribution to the defence and we really started to lose some structure once he came off the field. Added to that, Tom also had a fall and although he fought on it was obvious that his injuries had taken away some of his X-factor in the second half (3rd thing to go wrong!). With the smell of fresh blood in the air, Spirit came roaring back like a pack of wolves, resulting in a 5-6 loss. Despite the loss we still played well. Commendation goes to the Spirit players who played a great team effort, especially in the second half. We will be looking forward to the rematch.
Newtown Spirit vs Newtown Strikers 6-5
Numbers were not looking good for either team as game time approached, however a few miraculous appearances at the 11th hour resulted in full squads, but Strikers were playing without a goal keeper. The game started with promise for Spirit with a goal to Tom in the first few minutes, but Strikers were quick to respond with two goals due to some complacent defence by Spirit. A third goal to Spirit late in the first half left the score at 3:1 at the half time break.
Niko’s words of wisdom at half time had a profound effect on the Spirit team as they pulled back two goals early in the second half to equalise at 3:3. The second goal to Oscar came from a great series of team passing and a final feed of the ball to the top of the D by Emily on the left wing. The third goal came from a fantastic individual effort by Hudson, who was also involved in the 4th Spirit goal, when he seemingly pulled from the sky a high ball from Tom and fed it to Miles who was at full pace on the opposition 25. In between Spirit goals, Max was being kept busy defending goal with great support from the full backs, but Strikers were eventually able to equalise at 4:4 after sustained pressure on goal.
Spirit were still full of running and scored two further goals to Miles and Tom, both coming from long range counterattacks. With one minute remaining the Strikers scored again from a short corner but the Spirit cleared the ball long up the field from the restart leaving Strikers no opportunity to equalise, with the final score 6:5 to Spirit.
In summary, a great contest played in good spirit and the best all round team performance by Spirit for this hockey season, with every player on field having significant contributions in both attack and defence. Also great to see Spirit come from behind at half time to win.
Division 1 Men
Newtown Falcons vs Torquay 0-4
On a cold wet winter’s day, we all came out to play, moving around the field well trying to keep warm. Falcons created attacks from strong play by the defence, running the ball carrier down to gain possession and create a turnover. Positioning was great, with good calling and switching the play from one side of the field to the other. Falcons had plenty of play in the attacking zone but could not put the ball between those white posts. Score at half time was 0-2.
The half time talk focused on strategies to put that little white ball in the net. Falcons started well as they began, with plenty of calling, switching, controlling the ball to maintain possession, with 95% of the attack in Falcons favour. But again, despite the great play by the team, and many chances in front of goal, Falcons weren’t able to score. Final score was 0-4.
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay Tornadoes
Division 1 Women
Newtown Strikers vs Geelong 3-10
A great game by Strikers against strong and speedy opposition, helped out by having a full team. Geelong began strongly but the Strikers deep defence of Penny and Meg held their own and repelled a number of Geelong attacks before there was a score. Geelong continued to make things difficult for Strikers with their speed in attack and great ball control. Despite great marking and positioning by Emma A, Teeah, Kylie and Emma P, Geelong were able to move the ball around quickly and slot the ball neatly into goal.
Grace was proving dangerous on the forward line, and with Georgie and Elese in support, Strikers created a number of attacks and scored a well earned goal. Score at half time was 1-6.
The second half proved to be more of the same from Geelong, with fast paced attacks finding space in front of the goal. But Strikers were returning the pressure with some great attacking plays, and Julie and Erin provided valuable runs and great ball control skills to give Strikers hope. Final score was 3-10 – a great effort by all the Strikers players.
Fantastic to see Emma A back in her first game after injury, making some great clearances and denying Geelong chances in attack.
