We are more than halfway through the season and there have been some excellent games by our teams.
Under 8
Newtown Spirit vs Geelong Jaguars
The U8 Spirit team keeps on showing great progress with another fantastic performance against Geelong Jaguars. Starting from the back, Cohen and Flynn anchored the defence, with a solid performance and making some great tackles and saves. James again was great in the centre half position and working well with Caspar and Lily to get the ball back from the opposition and then work the ball out wide to Abby and Ester who were up and down the wings all game. Claire made some great positions and tackles and worked well with Lily as they worked the ball past the Geelong defence.
The quick improvement in skills of the players has certainly been noticed by all who continue to support the team from the sidelines (which is greatly appreciated).
Just a reminder that there are no games for the next two weekends due the school holidays and we’ll see you all back on the 15th July.
Best Team Player Awards to Lily and Cohen.
Under 10
Newtown Strikers vs Kardinia 2-1
The U/10 Strikers had a well-deserved 2-1 win against Kardinia – our first win of the season! Special thanks must go to the U/8 players – Miriam, Eliza, Casper and James – who stepped up to fill in some school holiday gaps in our line-up. The first half saw excellent team play by Casper and James rewarded in a goal, thanks to a last-minute pass off from James to Casper. Consistent defence again by Edward with one of his passes translating into a huge run by Felix up into the forward half. Miriam was great in the forward half too, getting in amongst the action. Second half saw an excellent early goal by James, followed up by some stellar defence by Tom, James and Vicki, along with great passes by Eliza and Dot. Edward had an absolutely massive run up the wing late in the match which had the entire Newtown crowd on its feet!! A great team effort, and well-deserved win. Best players were Casper and James, our two U/8 superstars!
Under 12
Newtown Strikers vs Newtown Spirit 0-1
The Under 12 Strikers had their match of the season on Saturday going down 1-0 to the Newtown Spirits. It was a fantastic game to watch as both teams were determined to win. Jack provided some amazing interceptions and attacking play while Audrey provided some excellent defence while feeding the ball up the field. The whole team played well together and were unfortunate to not get a goal. It is fantastic for Newtown Hockey Club to have 2 strong teams coming up the ranks. Thank you to Dan for his amazing coaching and working his magic bringing out the best in each player.
Newtown Spirit vs Newtown Strikers 1-0
A scrappy but even game played between the two Newtown sides. Strikers used nice wide passes whilst Spirit played it long. It was a back and forth game for the first half with Spirit getting a short corner goal from Lucas Young who scored after the first shot was saved. Both teams had second half chances with Strikers having a few short corners and Jack getting into the D couple of times. Ved had the best chance for Spirit in the second half to no avail. Spirit 1-0 Strikers
Under 14
Newtown Strikers vs Kardinia Maroon 1-0
The Strikers bounced back quickly from defeat last week and looked much more alert and awake right from the outset which they needed to be in this tightly fought game.
The Strikers moved the ball well across the field and continue to look for opportunties to switch the ball. Will and Ollie L controlled the ball well in defence and Bella dropped back well to provide some key support to the defensive end. In a very close first half the Strikers were able to force a couple of short corners but the scores at half time remained at 0-0. Kurt encouraged the players to make sure they were keep space between one another and always thinking about being in position for the next half. He also spoke about the need to be more attacking in the circle and to have all our forward hunting the ball looking for bounces off the keeper or half-chances.
The second half was again very close and after following Kurt’s instructions to create more movement in the circle the Strikers were able to force a 1:1 with the goalie. Zac cooly went back and slotted the goal into the top left corner and the Strikers were ahead. Kardinia came back hard in the final few minutes, included a heart stopping push forward in the final ten seconds, but Newtown were good enough to hold onto their lead an win 1-0.
Overall this was a great game with two very evenly matched teams and great skills on display. Kurt encourgage everyone to continue to look to get into space for the next ball forward and to bring a hunger to the contest when attacking within the circle. The win puts the Strikers into a good position heading into the holiday break.
Under 17
Newtown Spirit vs Kardinia 2-4
The U17 Spirit team knew they were going to have a tough game playing Kardinia this round. Many players were already on holidays and some unwell. We started the game with nine players, this included George O’Neill from U14 playing up to help with numbers.
Kardinia showed good sportsmanship, identifying our low numbers and giving us Ollie to start the game off. Spirit played a great first half keeping Kardinia to two goals. The game was pretty even in the first half with Spirit having three short corners giving some good opportunities at goals. Madden did an amazing job defending the goals throughout the game, supported by Leo and Georgia.
Spirit scored two goals the third quarter, Hugh and Hamish both had two very close goals. Great passing and running by Felix and Leo saw the ball spend a good amount of time in our forward where Karla was ready for the ball. Unfortunately even with these opportunities, no more goals were scored in the fourth quarter.
With no interchange, the team ran their hearts out and gave it their all right up until the final whistle. Final scores were Kardinia four, Spirit two, our goal scores were Ollie and Max.
A huge thank you to George and all of the Kardinia players that rotated though each quarter to give us eleven players for the game.
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay 2-1
Division 1 Men
Newtown Falcons vs Torquay Tornadoes 6-3
Division 1 Women
Newtown Falcons vs HG Sharks 0-4
Division 2 Men
Newtown Strikers vs Saints Black 0-22
Division 2 Women
Newtown Strikers vs Geelong 1-1
