The 2017 hockey season has nearly reached its conclusion, and the Club was very proud to have 9 teams participating in the Semi-Finals for the 7 divisions of Hockey Geelong competition.
Kookas
The Kookas games are continuing until the end of term, and will restart again in Term 4. Tom and Lennie combined really well this week with some great passing and good recognition of who and when to pass the ball to. Brayden continues to show good ball control skills and is always thinking of ways to outwit his opponent and help his team gain the advantage.
Under 12
Newtown Rebels vs Kardinia 5-0
Newtown Rebels have moved through to the U/12 Grand Final with a 5-0 win over Kardinia. It was an exciting game with both teams not willing to yield early on. Eventually Rebels broke through with a fantastic goal from Harry. Luca was solid at full back, rebounding many of Kardinia’s attacks, and Mai showed plenty of hustle in the last line of defence. As a sweeper, Harry created numerous attacking opportunities with long, angled passes to team mates ready to pounce and attack, and as always, was dangerous in attack.
When Kardinia had the ball, Imogen and Lachlan placed tremendous pressure on the opposition, creating mistakes and turnovers. Olivia and Sam provided plenty of drive through the back and middle half of the pitch, penetrating the wall put up by Kardinia with their silky skills. As they have throughout the season, Basyl and Brandon worked in tandem to move the ball along the right wing, finishing with fast, driving passes to teammates.
In the forward half, Kiah’s work rate was outstanding finishing with one goal to her name, and contributing to several other attempts from passes to her team mates. Likewise, Adele played an outstanding game, her attack on the ball created several turnovers, which she cleaned up with some excellent passing. Teijai worked tirelessly in the D and several times unselfishly passed to team mates in better positions, one of which resulted in a sharp goal from Brandon waiting on the post.
It has been amazing to watch the team develop over this hockey season. Well done to all the Rebels players for making it to the Grand Final!!!
Newtown Strikers vs Bellarine Lightning 1-2
Great season Strikers! Well it was certainly a tough and tense 2nd semi-final that played out to determine who would be playing Kardinia in the Preliminary final next week. Right from the start Bellarine dominated in the centre and Strikers defence were worked very hard to clear that ball out of the danger zone. Unfortunately for Strikers, Bellarine found the gap on 2 occasions giving them a comfortable lead at half time.
Strikers fired up in the second half and it was Bellarines’ turn to work their defence. Rory finally scored a lovely goal to give the Strikers some hope. There were a few narrow misses by the Strikers in the dying minutes of the game and although we finally had the momentum going, time ran out.
The standout players were Rory who put 100% effort into his game, Jack who came close to scoring a number of times and never gave up and Adam who was fearless and ran hard all game. A special mention to Jamie too who did an awesome job as goalie once again.
What a great game to end the 2017 hockey season. We are all so proud of our wonderful, talented team and look forward to seeing them all on the field in the future.
Under 14
Newtown Spirit vs Golden Plains 1-3
Spirit were favourites for this match coming off last week’s 10-1 win against Golden Plains. With a Grand Final spot on the line, nerves were high. We were bolstered with the return of Amelia and Max, but Jamie and Grace were away.
Golden Plains started well early and with an extra fast attacker since last week, they spent a lot of the first half in attack. This forced Spirit to do more switching in the back half which they executed well. Half-way through the first half Golden Plains were able to get the ball clear to one of their fast attackers, who got clear of our defenders and put the ball past Max to take Golden Plains to 1-0. A minute later, Golden Plains were into attack again but the hit was wide of the goal.
Spirit had some opportunities, with Amelia tackling well, then passing the ball to Charley and then Sam in attack, but Golden Plains’ defence was impenetrable. Harry attempted a tomma at the top of the D which was defended. Charley, Sam and Nick also saw some action in attack and Will’s pass to Sam enabled Spirit to earn 2 short corners in succession. But we couldn’t get through their strong defence in the D.
Golden Plains again pushed into attack, and while Spirit was able to defend a few hits on goal, Golden Plains drew a short corner and made no mistake to give them a 2-0 lead at half time.
Coach Carl asked for harder running, as Golden Plains were beating us with their speed through the midfield into attack. We were also holding the ball too long, giving Golden Plains the chance to crowd us out in attack.
In the second half, Spirit stepped up and Harry had a hit on goal early which was defended right on the goal line. Spirit sticks tried desperately to get the ball over the line and we received a penalty corner. Will took the corner and passed to Harry who made no mistake with a tomma to give Spirit their first goal. Golden Plains recovered and were again in attack but Harley and Ella did well to push their attackers out to the right and the hit was wide of the goal.
Will and Sam then had entries into the half circle, and a short corner was awarded, but we couldn’t capitalise. The game continued in this back and forth fashion with short corners and great defending on both sides, until Golden Plains were able to get a ball to a fast attack who ran past our defenders and tapped in a goal.
The final score was 1-3. Spirit now goes into an elimination final against Torquay on Saturday.
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay 0-3
Under 17
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay 2-0
We are now at the business end of the hockey season. Unfortunately we had 2 players become unavailable at short notice; luckily we still had one on the bench and plenty of depth in the team. Before the game, we talked about the importance of not letting Torquay get any easy goals early and that the first goal in a final is very valuable. We felt that if we got the first goal then Torquay would feel under pressure and cause some of their key players to get a little more desperate. Both teams played very well in the first half with good movement through the mid-field. We ticked our box when Corey scored a goal midway thought he first half. We maintained good control through the remainder of the first half and limited Torquay’s scoring chances to half time.
The second half started similarly to how the first half went – a very tight arm wrestle. We managed to get another goal through Jamie about 10 minutes into the second half to really put the squeeze on Torquay. To our dismay, Corey came off injured around about the same time as jamie’s goal. From that point on, Torquay really started to press and most of the play in the last 15 minutes was in our defensive half. Matters got worse as a couple of our players got carded. Fortunately some cool heads prevailed with Erin and Jamie dropping back to help the defenders as Torquay piled on the pressure. Torquay kept penetrating into our defensive D, but between some great saves by Luka and awesome tackles/clearances from Callum, Byron and Ollie, somehow we managed to keep Torquay scoreless.
It was a fantastic game by Strikers given we had a few of the more experienced players out of the game and the week off will be very beneficial to let a few players recover from injury. Next stop – the Grand Final! Well done team.
Newtown Spirit vs Kardinia 1-0
Our matches with Kardinia throughout the 2017 hockey season had been close encounters with narrow winning margins and this game proved no different. Newtown absorbed significant pressure in the first 10 minutes of the game and were able to weather the storm and eventually start winning possession. Both teams had shots on goal but the goal keepers were equal to the task with the half time score 0:0.
The second half continued in the same fashion with multiple attacks on goal from both teams but excellent work by the fullbacks and goal keepers kept the score at 0:0 at end of the second half. The game then moved into extra time and a golden goal scenario. Kardinia started with possession but Tom was able to intercept the ball in the Kardinia half and pass to Miles who scored the winning goal.
The result puts us into the semi-final against Torquay this weekend coming and we stand every chance of making it through to the grand final, if we can maintain the excellent defensive effort shown against Kardinia. Great work by all, let’s keep the momentum going.
Division 1 Men
Newtown Falcons vs Geelong Jaguars 4-2
A late game on Saturday meant we had to be on our game. We started off the game at a very fast pace, with some good defence skills from Lachie, Sean, Leo, Pat and Alex, and great keeping by Campbell which kept Geelong at bay.
Some good work from Jimmy, Zed, Niko and Tom P resulted in a goal, 1-0. Then good play from Geelong caught us napping and it was 1-1. A short corner from Falcons which Jimmy scored with a lovely drag flick put us 2-1 up at the break.
Half time chat focused on controlling the pace of the game, and letting the ball do the work. The second half saw great benefit from switching the play and slowing the play, resulting in another goal, 3-1. Geelong came back at pace and caught the defence out to score, 3-2.
There was plenty of calling and passing from the forwards, which earned a short corner and a goal, leaving 4-2 as the final score. Great goalkeeping from Campbell, and without his efforts the game could have finished with Geelong up and Falcons out of the finals race. Falcons will need to work hard this week against Saints to make it to the Grand Final, but we look forward to a great game with a good finish for this hockey season.
Division 1 Women
Newtown Falcons vs Saints Black 1-2
Falcons approached this game with some optimism given our recent matches against this opposition. However, with some of our regular players unavailable, we were thankful to have Peta and Kellie filling in. The game began well with neither team dominating the possession. Saints forward moves were met early by Deb, Emma P, Tiahna and Ainsley and turned into attack for Falcons. Deb’s great reach and ball control skills were a pleasure to watch. Marking of opponents was fairly tight, not allowing Saints any great latitude in attack. A number of Saints shots at goal were well defended and cleared by Falcons. Saints first goal came when a forward managed to elude their marker and a strong shot found the net.
Falcons continued to work hard in the second half, with Georgia and Kellie providing great options for team mates to move the ball out of defence. Peta’s determination and occasional burst of speed helped to create opportunities to attack. Great running by Hailey, Elese and Shannon and good positioning by Amanda got the ball into the circle and there were some narrow misses when the ball went across the face of goal on a number of occasions. Falcons earned 6 or 7 short corners but were not able to capitalise on them. Late in the game, Hailey was able to put a goal on the board and although Falcons continued their great efforts, the game finished with a win to Saints.
