We are 5 weeks into the hockey season and starting to see some pleasing performances in all divisions.
Highlights of the round this week:
- A great game by Albie for U10 Strikers. Albie was in great position using the width of the field very well to gain possession and pass to team mates.
- A fantastic game by Grace who stepped in as keeper for the D1 women against Torquay, the powerhouse team of the women’s competition for the last few years. Grace batted away most of what came her way, to see the team finish with a 2-2 draw – an excellent result!
Under 8
Newtown Strikers vs Newtown Spirit
U/8 Strikers put in another fantastic team effort against a strong Spirit team. Vicki and Dot again displayed great sportsmanship by offering to play one half each for Spirit, to help boost their numbers. All players tried hard, working on their tackling, passing and 2nd and 3rd efforts. The first half saw some great tackling by Grace, Lexi and Ewan, with Ewan and Grace combining really well in attack resulting in a few narrow misses at goal. Ewan had some great plays moving forward, Dot played well holding her position on the wing out wide, Vicki did some great tackling. Grace made some excellent passes forward and Blair produced some excellent plays up forward. Lots of improvement in dribbling was also evident from Lexi, Dot and Ewan in the first half, and Vicki in the second half. Defence by Lexi and Vicki stepped up a notch in the second half, with Vicki making three fantastic saves in quick succession in front of goal. Ewan had a great run at goal but couldn’t quite convert, and Lexi put in an enormously persistent tackle towards the end of the match.
Lexi played her best game so far and was awarded the Best Team Player Award from some good passing, great position play – well done Lexi, great game! All kids played well and a big thanks to Betsy for providing the oranges at half time – a huge hit!!
Newtown Navigators vs Torquay
Newtown Navigators played against Torquay on Saturday in a hard fought match. The Navigator’s skills have come a long way and they are playing well as a team. Felix had some good runs pushing the ball forward and Hunter did some good, persistent tackling. Emily had some strong passes and Amelie found good positions and manoeuvred the ball well. Best Team Player awards were awarded to both Emily and Amelie for the great improvement in their skills.
Newtown Spirit vs Newtown Strikers
A great game from Newtown Spirit with all the players laser focused on the ball and the game. We should all be eating whatever Edith had for breakfast as she was awesome, pouncing on the ball and dribbling it quickly and with control to send Spirit into attack. Edith’s game focus was well matched by Cate, Thomas and James, who all positioned themselves very well to intercept the forward moves from Strikers, gaining possession with sticks on the ground and clean tackles. Great awareness on free hits led to good passing to players in space, with some switching to allow team mates to move forward with ease.
Best Team Player Awards to the whole team.
Under 10
Newtown Strikers vs Geelong 6-1
Teamwork and some great passing skills were on display last Saturday when the Under 10 Newtown Strikers played Geelong Jaguars. The Jaguars played a good attacking game with some great attempts to get the ball down the field to their goal. Strikers have worked hard this season to learn the roles of each position and to stay in the right place and this paid off as they were able to pass well as a team to get the ball down to their goal and finish the play off with some points. Chelsea showed determination and some sharp shooting skills to contribute four goals to the team’s score. Well done to Eddy who scored two further goals for the team and to Albie who received the Best Team Player Award for staying in position and displaying great tackling and dribbling. Thank you to Coach Dan for your ongoing encouragement and support.
Under 10 Spirit – Bye
Under 12
Newtown Strikers vs Kardinia 2-1
Strikers were missing a few players this week, only being able to field 10 players including players from other Newtown teams. The first half was closely fought with the score at half time being level at 1-all.
Will did a lot of the attacking in the first half and scored the first goal. Captain Charles was solid in defence throughout the game, stopping a number of Kardinia attacks and making some very accurate passes into attack. James did really well in goal again, and seems to have found his calling. Lucy made some determined efforts when out-numbered. Sofia and Ved were trying hard to move the ball up into attack, but it was Polly that was able to bring the ball into the D and score the winning goal. The Strikers can feel very proud of their win considering Kardinia had one more player on the field plus a few more on the bench.
Thanks to Ved, Polly, Will and Ruby for helping the Strikers this week.
Newtown Spirit vs Geelong Jaguars 1-4
The 1st half of the game saw Spirit fairly defensive and lots of play crowded down the middle of the ground. Geelong Jaguars scored the only 2 goals of the first half.
The 2nd half of the game was Spirit’s better half with Patrick doing a great job down in defence getting the ball out and trying to find team mates. Evelyn did a great job on the wing trying her very best to find team mates to pass it off to. Great job to Eddy for scoring our only goal for the match. Pollyanna great positioning as goalkeeper saving so many goals. Geelong scored 2 goals for the half to win 4-1. Overall well done team everyone tried hard. Good luck next week.
Under 14
Kardinia Blue v Newtown Spirit 1-1
With a number of players back from illness, Spirit started the game at full pace and applied pressure to Kardinia right from the outset. The game was pretty evenly balanced and there was lovely end to end play from both teams. There was a beautiful 1-2 between Jett and Hamish up the left wing. In just his first game, Madden made an immediate impact a great tackle to stop Kardinia in their tracks. The game ended at 0 – 0 in the first half.
Kardinia were first to break the deadlock with a goal just after half time. This spurred Spirit on and the team bounced back quickly putting the pressure on the Kardinia defences. Positioned perfectly in the D, Felix added a second goal to his tally for the season. For the remainder of the game, Spirit made great use of the space with some beautiful long passes up the wing. There was a great contribution from the whole team, which was reflected in this passage of play.
The players’ player of the day was Hamish, closely followed by Charlie and Felix. There were lots of votes for our new player Madden who did magnificently in his first game. Keep up the great work team!
Newtown Strikers vs Kardinia White 5-1
With two impacts from COVID and one player away, we were one short this week, meaning our mids were going to have to work hard against the top placed Kardinia team.
Kurt got the kids moving before the game this week, with some run throughs, to try and get some energy in the legs before the game started.
We started well, and at times moved the ball well, but our structure was falling over, meaning the ball was getting turned over, and we were not closing down the Kardinia run. Going into half time with a narrow lead.
Kurt spoke to the team about the structure at half time, and in the second half we looked like a better team, moving the ball nicely around the pitch, using the full width. Our runners kept pushing hard, and everyone was holding their positions much better. This resulted in some additional shots on goal. The better structure was also making it more difficult for Kardinia to get the quick break away.
Our wings were doing some great running, and Matilda was manning the post well, resulting in a well-deserved goal. Max finally got to play his first game for Strikers this week, after missing the first 2 rounds with injury, and helping out Rebels with players last week. We were glad to have Max, he was looking very dangerous up forward all game, and finished with 4 goals for the game! Only possible however, through the excellent ball movement, and our passing to space, for the forwards to run onto.
Well done Strikers, another good game, and we can see you all starting to grow as a team.
Newtown Rebels vs Torquay 2-2
Goals scored by Nate.
Under 17
Newtown Spirit vs Newtown Strikers 4-1
Goal scorers: Tilly 1 for Strikers, 3 goals for Spirit between the 2 Lukes and 1 to Grace 1.
Division 1 Women
Newtown Falcons vs Torquay 2-2
Another great game for the Falcons this week, it is really pleasing to see the group continue to develop. Our star D2 goalie wasn’t with the D1 team today, and we were setting up to have a kicking back.
However, Grace decided to step in as D1 goalie for the day and put on her little sister’s goalie gear, leaving some to wonder how Charlotte had all the sudden grown taller. Grace did a fantastic job for us, with Torquay not able to score any goals from general field play, clearing the ball out wide like a pro, despite not having played as goalie since her one game in under 11’s on the grass.
Falcons again had some excellent ball movement, solid defence, and were breaking the lines with our now typical hard running, getting us into attack early. We got early short corner chances and went close to getting on the board. Torquay were on the back foot, and the pressure was starting to show, Torquay were quickly deploying their tactic of hitting it hard and long. We had a few sore shins as a result, but both Falcons dug deep, and refused to leave their positions, showing great strength and resilience. The game going into the first break 0-0.
The nice ball movement continued, with the Falcons moving the ball around, and through the defensive wall. A nice piece of play seeing us get another shot-on goal, and Jane getting us on the board, with a 1-0 lead. Torquay came out hard, and equalised with a converted short corner, but we were keeping the pressure on. Grace got her eye in, and saved several follow up short corner shots, and helped by some handy stick work from our defenders, we were keeping Torquay from taking the lead. We lost Jane to a hamstring early in the third quarter, leaving us with an empty bench. However our ball movement still got another short corner opportunity, but were not able to convert. Going into 3 qtr time 1-1.
After losing Jane to a hamstring, some of our players were really showing the signs from all the hard running they had been doing all game. But still they kept digging deep and kept the pressure on Torquay who still had several players on the bench. Our hard running continued, with our good ball movement getting us into the D on many occasions. Another short corner opportunity, resulting in a great shot from Alex, putting us back in front 2-1.
Torquay pushed hard and managed to get a section of repeat short corners, and after defending the first two, an unlucky foot near the goal line, resulted in a Torquay stroke. Grace did her best, but unfortunately Torquay were able to level the scores 2-2.
Both sides then traded forward thrusts, but we were mostly able to keep Torquay out of their attacking 25. We looked the more dangerous team, with better ball movement, getting us up into the attacking D on several occasions. Some very close almost deflections from Scarlett could easily have got us the lead again. With the final whistle going as we were again trying to get into the D.
Great game Falcons, very close to another win, but we will take the 2-2 draw against the top team of the last couple of seasons. Keep up the great work. Rest up Jane, we hope you recover quickly, and we can have you back with us again soon…
Division 2 Men
Newtown Falcons vs Torquay 2-5
Newtown put in a strong performance against an experienced Torquay line-up. We were bolstered by several U17 players who came straight from their game to ours – thank you. We defended strongly despite having our regular full backs unavailable.
As the game progressed, we remained determined and increased our pressure on Torquay’s defence. In the fourth quarter we earned a stroke, which Basyl converted, and then a few minutes later Basyl pounced on a rebound and scored a second goal.
For one of the first times this season we actually had a bench which meant that we were able to have fresh legs on the field, resulting in some well deserved team goals. Definitely a game to build upon, particularly with some of the U17 players showing interest in becoming regulars.
Division 2 Women
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay Tornadoes 2-2
This was a great come from behind result for Strikers, which makes it even more pleasing.
Newtown had the majority of the play in the first half, with many moves reaching the circle and putting the ball within reach of the goal. Strong defence from Tash and Andie was well supported in the midfield by Kate, Kellie and Sarah, who hassled their opponents and kept putting on the pressure to rebuff Torquay’s attack. Torquay scored their first goal from one of the few attacks in the first half which really looked like being a threat, with a ball followed up off the goalkeeper’s rebound. Torquay scored a second goal from a penalty stroke after the ball had just grazed Andie’s heel.
Strikers redoubled our efforts in the second half, and continued to push forward. Goals scored by Peta with a nice hit short corner hit was followed up by a deft touch from Serena, in the right place at the right time. Excellent perseverance, great ball control and good use of space by Anessa, Shan, Georgie and Grace.
Great effort by all.
