A very cold and wet weekend but that didn’t stop our teams from putting together some great performances. We are now heading into the second half of the hockey season so our teams will be hoping to come home strongly with the benefit of practice and familiarity.
Under 8
Newtown Rebels vs Red Jaguars
Newtown Strikers vs Kardinia Kangaroos
Strikers had a great match this week against the Kardinia Kangaroos. Coach Colleen was extremely pleased with their performance, Strikers worked well as a team and it is clear to see all players’ skills are improving every week. Particular strengths were getting in front of their opponents, improved communication by calling to each other for the ball and passing well to find space.
All in all, another excellent game and Cormac was awarded Subway Player of the Week for his hard work in defence and for never giving up. Congratulations Cormac!
Newtown Spirit vs Kardinia Kookaburras
Spirit players were kept on their toes by the tenacious Kardinia Kookaburras in the latest round of Under 8 competition at Lloyd Reserve. The Newtown team had to dig deep to hinder their opposition’s attacking moves in chilly conditions on Saturday morning.
Oliver showed great control during the game, staying out wide on the wing and, on several occasions, spinning with the ball to keep Kookaburra players from getting possession. Braxton and Summah patrolled the right side of the field, opening up play and working well together.
At half time Coach Kellie urged her players to get themselves into their clock-face positions as soon as the umpire signalled a Spirit free. If the decision went against them, she instructed them to swiftly mark a player. With a position reshuffle, Spirit threw themselves into action and worked hard to follow their coach’s instructions. With Drew having a strong impact as centre forward and Maia and Edie playing nice and wide on the wings, the team kept up the pressure on their opposition and didn’t give in during the entertaining match. Pollyanna stopped several Kardinia runs in her role as right half back.
Coach Kellie presented the Subway best team player award to Drew, who had a wonderful game characterised by great marking and clever moving into open spaces. He also displayed good awareness of the positions of his team mates and the opposition. Great effort Drew.
Under 10 Mixed
Newtown Rebels vs Geelong College 2-1
Newtown Spirit vs Newtown Strikers 1-2
This was such a great game to watch as a spectator from the side lines. The pressure was there all game, with excellent movement out wide, we were on the ball straight away. We were using all our players, weren’t waiting for the whistle and we were having 2nd, 3rd & even 4th attempts at the ball.
Kellie wanted us to go a little more square with our passes in the second half and to dribble just a touch longer, just a tactic we can use to know we have possession of the ball. Our passes down the left side were excellent but Kellie wants us to work on having a player ahead of the ball on the right side. Our opposition was strong in the back line and a tactic was to push straight for the feet of the opposition when we had the ball in the circle. We were excellent at running together as a team into the offence space today but we need to know that if we are doing this then, if they get possession of the ball, the forwards need to switch “just like that” (Kellie clicked her fingers) to be in front of the ball.
It needs to be mentioned that the last time we played this team we lost 6:0…..WOW what an improvement! Nate scored a goal and best team players went to Matilda and Leo.
Under 10 Girls
Team Pink vs Team Purple 1-0
A fantastic game again this week from all the girls, with players showing great control and great running to get to the ball in space. Each week sees improvement in the strategies, scanning and passing wide with great trapping from Amelia, Phoebe and Ruby. Good ball control and speedy passages of play with Matilda, Maddie and Aimee showing determination to attack. Great thinking and some great back passes by Elliott and Stella, with Lily, Alex and Zoe in good position to intercept opposition passes.
Under 12 Mixed
Newtown Strikers vs Bellarine Thunder 1-1
Strikers played another good team game against a skilled opposition in Bellarine. Mai was our goal scorer with a great goal shot after short corner re-bound and Tom played very well in the mid-field with his one on one elusive stick skills. It was Sam’s first game in goal and after really enjoying last week’s training his enthusiasm continued with some great saves against the Bellarine forwards. Madeline saved the day on a number of occasions in defence and Brayden worked tirelessly all over the field – a great team result. Strikers will need to follow our game plan vs Geelong this week.
Newtown Spirit vs Kardinia 4-3
Under 14 Mixed
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay 0-6
Newtown Spirit vs Kardinia Blue 9-1
The pitch was sopping wet for the start of play following heavy rain overnight. None of the passes were finding their mark as the ball was halted in its tracks by the sheet of water on the pitch. Newtown quickly adapted their style of play to a short passing game and success wasn’t far away with the first goal to Nick from right cross from Charley. Kardinia equalised almost immediately, but another Charley and Nick effort grabbed the lead back for Newtown at 2:1. Charley was in the action again soon after to put Newtown ahead 3:1, and an attack up the left wing produced a goal for Will to lead 4:1. The rain looked like it might hold off for the half but hopes were dashed by a heavy downpour 30 seconds before the half time whistle, which left the players drenched for the half time debrief.
Newtown kept the pressure on at the start of the second half with goals to Nick and Will early on, both coming from short corners. Sam produced a 7th goal from a melee in front of goal and an 8th to Charley came from an attack up the left side of the field. A series of short corners awarded to Newtown eventually yielded another goal to Sam, and a final tomahawk by Will from the top of the D left the score at 9:1.
Great game from Newtown who adapted well to the conditions and used both right and left sides of the field to progress and put pressure on the goal. A relatively quiet day in goal for Jack who had the dependable Luca and Amelia holding the fort at the back. Let’s hope for better conditions next week against the Strikers.
Under 17 Mixed
Newtown Spirit vs Kardinia 9-0
Newtown Spirit with a team of ten played a decisive and attacking game against Kardinia in round 7. Kardinia to their credit played with many junior players, however, Spirit were dominant, played a strong team game, and were rewarded with a 9:0 victory.
Spirit came out strong from the first whistle, with Emily scoring within the first five minutes with a beautiful deflection on the post. Less than two minutes later Miles scored a quick goal for a 2:0 lead. Kardinia replied immediately with a strong shot on goal saved by goalie Max. With twelve minutes left in the first half Spirit kicked their play up a gear with Tom scoring the first of his two goals. Excellent passing and positive team talk saw the wings utilised well. Oli on the wing and Ben at right inner passed well to Emily on the post who scored another two goals in quick succession. With four minutes to the half time whistle Miles won a short corner and Angus scored a terrific goal.In a dynamic finish to the half Emily scored her fourth goal for a half time total of 7:0.
Spirit came out confident in the second half and scored within the first five minutes with Tom converting again. Undeterred Kardinia replied quickly with an attack on goal though pressure from Max stopped the attack. In the final minutes Miles scored his second goal to bring the game result to 9:0. Full credit to all players for a terrific team game that focused on playing wide and passing. Oliver and Rachel were strong in defence and closed down the Kardinia attack. Riley and Ben utilised the wings to great effect. Tom and Miles were strong in attack. Coach Paul praised all players after the match with special mentions to Emily, Oliver and Ben. All players were instrumental in the final result today, well done team.
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay 1-5
Division 1 Men
Newtown Falcons vs Saints Black 1-1
Division 1 Women
Newtown Falcons vs Saints Black 0-1
Division 2 Men
Newtown Spirit vs Golden Plains 2-8
Division 2 Women
Newtown Spirit vs Saints White 0-1
A fantastic game by Spirit, who have shown improvement in each game of the return matches against opposing teams. Spirit worked well together with some excellent linking and passing to teammates, and great use of space. Saints put plenty of pressure on our defence but Spirit’s covering of opponents and positioning didn’t allow the stronger Saints players to dominate the game. Saints had plenty of shots at goal but the AMAZING Jessie J in goals was more than equal to the task. Fantastic effort team.
