This week’s matches had some real highlights, as we head toward the middle of the hockey season.
Under 8
Newtown Spirit vs Kardinia Kookaburras
Newtown Strikers vs Newtown Rebels
Under 10 Mixed
Newtown Strikers vs Kardinia 5-0
Newtown Spirit vs Geelong College 2-2
Kellie ws proud of the intensity and the way we were keeping our sticks down. She gave us a tactic to work at and that was to just dribble the ball, there was always at least 4 opposition players around us and if we could just dribble the ball then they would be forced to use strong tackling techniques which would then draw the free. Kellie encouraged us to use our excellent stick skills to dribble through the traffic. Kellie also made the comment that we were using the field how we should; staying away from the centre.
Half time saw Kellie talking about hockey terminology just to make sure we all knew what she was asking of us. “Up the field” means to play in the direction of attack & “drop back” means to move into your defence position. Kellie also helped us learn more about long and short corners, (the technical side) – but also how it was important to be at the ready and quick so we put pressure on the ball. She also talked about marking our players and the only position that shouldn’t be marking a player would be the centre forward and the full back if they are loose.
The games was ours until the last couple of the minuties where Gellong College were able to get their second goal, to even the score. It was a great game to be a spectator at and the team should be congratulated on a great effort, with lots of great stick & ball technique. Awards went to Annabelle and Pollyanna (congratulations on 25 games too Pollyanna). Goals were scored by Lucy and Ruben.
Newtown Rebels vs Torquay 2-0
There was a great amount of pressure on right from the start of the game and an extremely well matched game. It was hard fought through the centre and into the defence for both teams. Tommy was up for the challenge in goals and successfully defended every attack on goals. Alex and Amelia in the back half’s were making smart decisions with their strokes and pushing the ball out wide or changing direction of play. Both also moved up the field to stop the advancing Torquay team. Mia and India were constantly on the move along the wings and trapping the ball well. Well done to Mia on her debut game. India was so close to scoring her first goal but was denied by the Torquay kicker. Eliza, Jai and Emma were a formidable team through the centre with the amount of running this group completed and never giving up even when struck by their opponent through to their tackling. Baxter and Ruby showed great composure under pressure and gained possession back on multiple occasions. It was a hard fought game but with everyone working together we came away with the victory.
Alex was awarded player of the match for her super strong pushes and Mia was awarded the Subway voucher for her listening to instructions and doing everything asked of her.
Under 12 Mixed
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay 2-2
The Newtown U/12 Strikers drew 2-2 with Torquay which was a great result from our previous encounter. Strikers played a good team game with improved passing but Torquay were always very skillful and fast on the break. Strikers came back from a goal down each time with good team goals from Brayden and Max. Chloe had another good game in goals and Sam encouraged the team with a tackling count and Tom work tirelessly in the centre. Defenders Ebony, Madeline and Mai forced Torquay errors on many occasions. Great team effort.
Newtown Spirit vs Golden Plains 4-0
Under 14 Mixed
Newtown Strikers – Bye
Newtown Spirit vs Bellarine 0-0
It was a frenetic pace from the get-go from both teams, in stark contrast to the game last week. Playing in the limelight of Pitch 1 in front of the crowd basking in the warmth of the sun on the terraces, must have been sufficient to get the adrenaline flowing! Play rapidly switched from end to end with nothing to differentiate the two teams for much of the half. Newtown did manage to sneak the ball over the goal line towards the end of the first half but there was an infringement in the melee in front of goal, so the score remained at 0:0.
Newtown had the majority of possession and opportunities in the second half and were playing a well structured game with lots of passing and spreading the ball. Bellarine were relying on surprise counter-attacks by a couple of their tall fast players, but the Newtown defence was awake to their strategy. Newtown was unlucky not to score from a few late short corners, but credit to Bellarine for defending well and holding Newtown to a 0:0 draw.
Thanks to Jack for keeping goal this week and putting his lightning quick reflexes to use a couple of times during the game to keep the opposition scoreless. A mention also for Lachie and Nick who found themselves in the thick of the action for much of the game and did very well to remain calm and composed under pressure. No game next weekend due to the long weekend, so there is no training on Thursday.
Under 17 Mixed
Newtown Strikers vs Newtown Spirit 0-4
Newtown Strikers hosted Newtown Spirit on Sunday in their 3rd encounter for the season.
Strikers ball movement continues to improve and we had some entries into the half-circle including one nice attack from Miles and Oscar that drew the Spirit goalkeeper away from goal, EJ then received the ball but his hit was defended by another Spirit defender.
Amelia gave us a good option on the left wing and received a few passes to take us forward, but we couldn’t keep the ball clear of Spirit defence.
Luka in goals, Caleb, and our two Sams (Sam R and Sam S) in defence had a really good game under continuous pressure, but Spirit’s speed up forward enabled them to score 1 goal in the first half and 3 in the second half. Final score was 4-nil to Spirit.
Things for the team to work on are being aware of the loose players during penalty corners, staying with the opposition ball carrier and following up with second efforts when we’re defending.
Newtown Spirit vs Newtown Strikers 4-0
Newtown Spirit played Newtown Strikers on Sunday in a highly competitive game that tested both sides. The Strikers started out strong in attack with goalie Angus making some impressive saves for the Spirit in the first half to keep the scores 0:0. Midway through the first half the Strikers turned the ball over to Miles who attacked and made a decisive goal to put the Spirit ahead. A quick reply by the Strikers saw the Spirit goalie pushed off to the side and created an opportunity for the Strikers who got a shot off on goal, saved just in time by Oliver sweeping across goals to keep the score 1:0. Both sides showed impressive attacking and defensive skills and the score remained unchanged at half time. The Spirit players took on their coach’s half time advice, picking up players and getting the ball wide. The result was terrific team play along the wing with a ball to Oli who passed to Miles who then found Emily perfectly positioned on the post and deflected the ball beautifully to score the Spirit’s second goal. With attacking momentum Spirit put the pressure on and Miles was able to score again to take the score to 3:0. With 10 minutes remaining Spirit created a couple of short corners though were unable to convert. A great piece of play soon after saw Angus pass to Riley along the wing who then found Emily again perfectly positioned though not able to convert. With 2 minutes on the clock Miles made a dynamic attack with another scoring shot goal with the final result 4:0. At the wrap up coach Paul commented that “playing wide in the second half changed the course of the game”, “Emily played brilliantly, Riley made space all through the game, Harry played really well, and the rest of the team played fantastic”. Well done Spirit on another great team effort and thanks to Angus and Oli for playing up from U/14’s.
Division 1 Men
Newtown Falcons vs Geelong 6-3
It was a tale of two halves for the Falcons this week. Even though the sun was shining and it was a great day for hockey the Falcons came out playing like it was winter; cold,wet and miserable!! The first half was one to forget with poor structure, ball movement and too many players ball watching resulted in us being 2-0 down to Geelong at the half time break. After a bit of a rev up at half time the boys suddenly started to play some team hockey. Matt B provided a spark by moving into the forward line creating lots of opportunities but more importantly got the score board ticking over. The boys held their structure and played great disciplined hockey which resulted in a 6-1 second half. It was pleasing to see the boys turn it around in the second half and get some reward for effort. It was also pleasing to see players work for each other with lots of unselfish, unrewarded passages of play. Matt B was IGA player of the game. Hope you all have a relaxing hockey free long weekend!
Division 1 Women
Newtown Falcons vs Geelong 0-2
For this game we only had a couple of introductions to do. While we started with a pretty healthy roster of 14 by the start of game we were down to 13. Part way through the first 1/2 we were down to 12 and before end of the game we had 11. Geelong sits top of the ladder so to go down 2-0 reflects a well contested match. Our young guns Hailey, Erin, and Ella all had solid games. Hailey, Erin and Shannon should have had GPS on to monitor their kilometers as they had to help hold an assertive Geelong backfield eager to overlap and join the play. Our defenders Ainsley, Astrid, Mon and Meg with Jessie J in goals did a good job of withstanding some segments of sustained attack, giving up minimal PC in the first half and only 1 (maybe two) in the second half. Midfielders Emma, Pen, Deb were busy trying to control an often overloaded and busy center core. While we didn’t get on the scoreboard, we did have some great attack opportunities. Well done ladies!
