The Preliminary Final saw 5 teams continue their march toward the Premiership for the 2022 hockey season, with some great displays of teamwork, skill and perseverance.
Under 14 Mixed
Newtown Strikers vs Newtown Rebels 1-2
Congratulations to Strikers for a great 2022 hockey season. You have been a great team all year, and it is a shame we didn’t quite make it to the Grand Final. You all played really well, and got us the chances, but unfortunately things just didn’t quite go our way in the finals.
All the best for the remainder of the year, and we hope to see you all back again next season.
Thanks to our wonderful coach Kurt, for giving not only our team, but the wider Newtown Teams your time and dedication to developing the players, I think all the Newtown players have benefitted from your efforts.
Well done Strikers, you are a great bunch of kids (and families), and it has been a pleasure to have you in our team!
Under 17 Mixed
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay 5-2
On Saturday Strikers met minor premiers Torquay in the preliminary final. We applied great pressure in the opening minutes maintaining possession and confining most of the play to our attacking half. Torquay defended well, intercepting our passes and crowding our D to prevent us capitalising on our efforts. A goal from a short corner broke the deadlock and we went to 1 nil lead. Our intensity level then dropped, and the momentum shifted Torquay’s way. Mai, in goals, obviously saw this and did a great job directing defenders to man up and drop when needed, at the same time as casually fending off a blistering shot at goal by one of the Torquay strikers. They managed a short corner
which was we defended well. A mid field intercept by Harry B and some masterful ball control, culminating in a goal, took the score to 2 nil. A follow-up goal from a short corner manufactured by Charlotte gave us some breathing space at 3 nil. Again, we seemed to lose momentum and Torquay capitalised, getting a short corner with a minute and a half left on the clock and converting to take the half time score to 3-1.
Coach Niko was disappointed with our energy level in the first half and felt that we were playing ‘loose’ hockey, not enough talking up the pitch and not listening when the talking did happen. He urged us to lift intensity and play at a level that would send us to a grand final on a high. Niko’s emotional half time speech seemed to spark some energy. Harry W ran the ball aggressively from mid pitch to the top of the D but was thwarted by Torquay defenders. Harry B intercepted their attempt to clear the ball and scored, then followed up minutes later with another goal to make it 5-1. Once again, Torquay regrouped and came back at us, this time in a more sustained way.
In the remaining 10 minutes they held possession well and pressured our defenders, gaining 3 short corners and scoring from 1. Our defenders held up well with Ilia solid on numerous occasions clearing the ball to centre pitch with proficiency that belied his 9 game career. Ado came to life with a lot of running and linked up well with our defenders to transition the ball through centre pitch. Mai, not surprisingly, made Torquay’s efforts to score very difficult. The final score was 5-2.
Well done Strikers on a solid win and congratulations on making the grand final. Congratulations also to Torquay on finishing the year on top of the ladder. Also, a nod to both Strikers and Torquay on a match played in great spirit.
Division 1 Women
Newtown Falcons vs Geelong 0-6
Well done for a great 2022 season Falcons. It has been great to see how far the team has come over the season, and how much the team has developed as a unit.
It was great to see the team win 3 games, but also the fact we had 5 draws shows we had some great games over the season, with a few of those draws coming after we controlled the bulk of the match. Thank you to all the juniors that stepped up to give us the additional players we needed to be competitive, this was a big factor in the team performance this year.
Hopefully the team can use this year as a good steppingstone to build on for next season. So well done Falcons, all the best for the remainder of the year, and we hope to see you all back again next season.
Division 2 Men
Newtown Falcons vs Saints Red 2-0
The Grand Finals next week will see Newtown featuring in the U12, u14 and U17 competitions as well as the Division 2 Men’s. What a great effort!
