The last round of home and away matches for the 2022 hockey season allowed teams to finalise their positions in the competition, before moving on to Semi-Finals next week.
Congratulations to the 2022 Geelong Hockey Association U10 Premiers, Newtown Strikers, and the Runners Up, Newtown Spirit. This is a fantastic result for both teams, showing how much confidence, team play and skill have improved during the hockey season. It is an especially noteworthy achievement when considering that the two teams included 16 players who were totally new to the sport of hockey, and 5 who were in their first year of U10 hockey. Only 5 players had played at Under 10 level before – what an amazing result.
Under 8 Mixed
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay
U/8 Strikers were evenly matched against Torquay in their last game of the hockey season. Lexi kindly joined the Torquay team in the first half, and Blair in the second half. Paddy scored a couple of goals off the back of some great tackles. Vicki was again strong in defence. Ewan was persistent in his tackling efforts all game (particularly against his brother in the second half!!) and also worked extra hard on improving his passes in the second half. Sophie scored a great goal against the run of play late in the second half.
Newtown Spirit vs Torquay Tornadoes
Even in the last match of the season, the teamwork and awareness of space and position continues to improve. Great position by Cate on the wing was well matched by her thoughtful passes to team mates in goal scoring positions. Excellent focus on the ball by Thomas stopped a number of Torquay surges and gave the ball back to Spirit players running into attack. Ishe and James were always keen to be in the play and chased hard to gain possession and send the ball to Spirit’s advantage. Jude played his first U8 game, making some great passes to sister Cate.
Well done Newtown Spirit. A great finish to a really good year.
Navigators vs Kardinia
Another great game from Newtown Navigators, with all the players showing great determination and some excellent passing.
Under 10 Mixed
Newtown Strikers Bye
Newtown Spirit vs Kardinia 5-0
Under 12 Mixed
Newtown Strikers vs Newtown Spirit 2-1
U12 Strikers finished off the regular hockey season with an impressive game showing how much their skills have developed since the first round. Everyone did very well with some great passages of play created by precision passes linking together to get the ball to scoring opportunities. A stand-out was Charles with several great traps and passes. Thanks to Chelsea from U10 Strikers who lent a hand again with another great game.
Newtown Spirit vs Newtown Strikers 1-2
Newtown Strikers were the stronger team scoring the 1 st goal. Jack and Connor were getting the ball down to our end but had no luck getting a goal. Patrick and Ved were doing a great job getting the ball out but Strikers were able to regain possession and move the ball down to their end . At half time it was Newtown Strikers 2 to Newtown Spirit 0.
In the second half Newtown Strikers started very hard, getting the ball down to their end often, though Newtown Spirit Goalkeeper Ruby stopped a couple of goals. Hamish got the ball over to Xavier and he ended up taking the ball down and scoring the first goal for Newtown Spirit.
Today’s match was a brilliant game by the teams to finish their season, it’s wonderful to see their skills develop and become a cohesive team with so much potential.
I would like to say thank you to all the U10 players for filling in for us Jack, Aleahya, Eddy and Connor. Well done to Newtown Strikers winning 2 to 1.
Under 14 Mixed
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay 1-4
Strikers again had a few players away for the last round of the home and away draw, good luck to Matilda who is travelling to the U12 SSV competition, we hope you have fun, and the Vic SSV team does well! Thanks to Ved and Hamish for giving us a full list for the game.
Charlotte was back in goals today and was set for a busy morning against a strong Torquay side, and she had a busy morning, with lots of saves, including a good glove save which she was very pleased about.
The first half was very even, with both sides getting a lot of possession. A quick breakaway caught our defence a little high, and some fast run had the Torquay attack with a 2 on 1 with our goalie, a good effort from Charlotte, but Torquay were on the board. Being caught on the rebound, with our defence a bit high, will be something for us to watch in the finals. Our defenders re-grouped, and our halves Ollie and Will provided great pressure in the middle of the ground, helping Kashvi and Leo to have more time to cut off the Torquay forward run. Izzy had another great game in centre half, controlling the middle, and some excellent hits through to our wings Ivy and Brandon. Surry, Zac and Hamish were providing good structure in the centre corridor, and the inners were moving around to be available for options. A nice hard cross from Zac into the D got us on the board from a deflection into the goals. Going into half time 2-1 down.
Coach Kurt did some tweaks to the structure, and game the team some points to focus on. The second half saw some great hockey by both teams, with lots of rebound back and forth. Izzy continued to provide great drive out of defence, and put us into attack on many occasions. Our running back to defend breakaways was much better, with Ollie, Will and Leo cutting of most of the attempts, and Kashvi strong on anything that got through.
We got plenty of attack, but didn’t quite manage to get another goal on the board, a small touch on the foot robbing Zac of a nice hit into the goals, but still a nice shot on goal. Will got some great intercepts, and some excellent timed poke tackles from Surry gave our forwards some chances. Ved was again looking at home in the U14 team, tackling the big Torquay forwards and winning the ball. As the game went on, we started to move the ball around better, but we just weren’t able to get another goal on the board. A few short corner attempts, but no conversions this week. A good tomahawk saw Torquay add to their goals, and an unlucky deflection from a defender gifted Torquay a late second half goal, resulting in a 4-1 loss, that didn’t really reflect the bulk of the game.
A highlight of our game was a strong hit from a free outside the 25 by Izzy, getting fast ball movement into the D, that almost saw Ivy deflect in a goal. A great decision, execution, and field position by those players, catching the Torquay defenders out of position, and very close to getting a quick goal.
Finals next week, so let’s hit this first final at speed, and take some momentum into the games to come.
Newtown Spirit vs Newtown Rebels 0-2
Sitting 4th and 5th on the ladder meant that the game was set to be close between Spirit and Rebels on Saturday. Madden and Taya were going to share the goalie role, but with only 10 players on the Rebels side Taya kindly jumped into the other goals without any hesitation …thanks Taya.
The match started out at a fast pace and the Spirit defence was put to the test pretty quickly. The back line played some great structured hockey to keep Rebels at bay and the whole team were engaged in the play with passes going out up the wings. The attack just couldn’t penetrate the Rebels defence. The movements forward all started from the back with Maddi and Amelia sending strong balls out wide. Baxter created some great leads with his massive clearances. Charlie, Declan and Ruby were under the pump all morning with a strong attacking Rebel team. All three running the centre of the pitch in both defence and attack. The experience of Aimee and Hamish helped to bring the ball into our attacking circle on a number of occasions. There was plenty of space for Jett and Harry out on the wing and they were both in fantastic position for passes to come through, even sneaking into the circle on a couple of occasions. Rebels took advantage of an unmarked attacker to get a goal and were quick to follow with a second goal.
Rebels taking the win put an end to Spirit’s finals hope, but the entire team should be extremely proud of their performances this season. For a team with a significant number of players new to hockey they have really put on some great displays of team hockey. All of the players have grown and developed throughout the season, taking on board the new skills from training and putting them into action. It has been a pleasure to watch our new players gain confidence and settle into their roles. The team should also be very proud of the way they have conducted themselves week after week, always supporting each other and being willing to help fellow teams when needed to ensure that everyone gets a game and is able to contribute. The team’s spirit of support, encouragement and inclusion is an example to others and is very much reflective of Rachel’s values as a coach. Well done all! Keep up the great work with your hockey and we look forward to seeing you all back in action next year!
A huge thank you to our supporters who have been incredibly positive in their cheering and creating a fun atmosphere for our athletes to play in. Thanks to Simon for taking the team photo..we just missed Felix…so we will hope for some photoshop magic. We wish Rebels and Strikers all the best as they head into the final series.
Under 17 Mixed
Newtown Strikers vs Geelong Jaguars 17-0
On Sunday Strikers played their final home and away match against Geelong Jaguars. It was a less than energetic start to the match. We seemed to lack intensity in the first 5 minutes perhaps due to a bit of complacency coming from our easy win the last time we played them. Although we started with the bulk of the possession, the Geelong defenders refused us a score despite many shots at goal. We managed three short corners all defended successfully by Geelong to keep us scoreless. Finally, on the fourth short corner Harry W snuck a pass to Harry B to score the first goal. That seemed to bring some energy to our game with better running and passing which started to open up the Geelong defence.
Harry B scored again to take the score to 2 nil. Some nice passing mid-pitch resulted in a nice running goal when Harry B scored again and then a follow up within a minute when Harry B scored again to take the score to 4 nil.
Niko asked the team to focus on possession in the second half. Harry B scored shortly after the whistle to kick things off in what was to be a better half of hockey for us. A passage of play that set the tone was when a pass from Tilly found Charlotte in the open who sent the ball goalward for a deflection by Mitch. Almost immediately after Harry B scored from a short corner. The best pass of the match came when Harry B spied Basyl open at the top of the D. Although the ball was dead flat, it was travelling at such a speed that Basyl did well to trap it so cleanly and finish off with a goal.
Final score was 17 nil. Great effort by Strikers and some good signs leading into finals.
Newtown Spirit vs Kardinia 2-11
Division 1 Women
Newtown Falcons vs Saints Black 3-3
Division 2 Men
Newtown Falcons vs Golden Plains 5-5
Division 2 Women
Newtown Strikers vs Saints Red 0-4
It was a good start to the game with the defence holding its own against some speedy Saints attacks. Tracey and Ainsley were in the right position time and again to slow or deflect the Saints moves toward goal. Sarah and Beth marked opponents well in the midfield with Hannah sending the ball wide. The first goal scored by Saints was a rocketing shot off a short corner which unfortunately deflected off a stick in the circle and went into the roof of the net. Saints were able to score a second goal by half time with quick movement giving them an advantage.
Strong hits from Peta saw the ball get through to Serena and Anessa on the wings and Charlotte and Kate worked hard to continue the momentum and put pressure on the Saints defence. Unfortunately, the second half saw Saints score twice more without any success for Strikers.
We look forward to the first week of the semi-finals next week, and a chance to bring our best game to the field.
We are sorry to farewell Kate, who is moving to France with her family for a few years. We have enjoyed the chance to play with Kate and wish her and her family good fortune.
