2023 Hockey Season – May 6 & 7

Round 2 of the 2023 hockey season saw some excellent matches and some very skillful play and team strategies.

Under 6

Although the U6 players might be small in number and small in size, they show great skills and willingness to learn.  There was some excellent dribbling and pushing in this week’s session and it was good to see the children having fun.

Under 8

Newtown Spirit vs Geelong

The experienced players of the Spirit team, James and Caspar, led the way in the game against Geelong, with great focus on the ball and excellent passing skills.  Our newer players made great contributions with Flynn successfully defending the goal on many occasions, and well considered free passes to team mates in space.  Abby and Esther co-operated well on the right, with determined efforts to obtain possession and move the ball into attack.  Leila was always in good position to intercept Geelong’s forward moves and used the space down the wing to send the ball toward our goal. Claire and Will positioned themselves in the centre channel, creating an obstacle to Geelong’s progress.

Best Team Player Awards to Leila and Abby.

Newtown Strikers vs Saints

Another fantastic game was enjoyed by both teams during Round 2 on the weekend.

In only their second game as a team, the Strikers demonstrated excellent teamwork throughout the contest, with ball skills and passing both improved significantly from Round 1. Henry, Tess, Nadia and Charlie were standouts in attack, making run after run towards the Saints goal. While Miriam, Eliza and Thomas were ever present in defense, tackling beautifully to keep the Saints scoring opportunities at bay.

Fantastic game Newtown Strikers U8’s. Keep up the great work!

Under 10

Newtown Strikers vs Kardinia 2-2

The U/10 Strikers welcomed Georgia and Winnie to their team in their match against Kardinia. A great run by Paige up forward, ably supported by Georgia and Paddy, resulted in an early goal for Newtown. A couple of impressive intercept passes by Paddy in the forward line kept the pressure up on Kardinia, but they did manage an equalising goal midway through the first half.

Some huge defensive efforts from Felix ended up in a second, epic goal by Paige shortly before half time. The second half was then all about defence, with Campbell and Edward joining Felix to basically create a solid wall in defence. Kardinia did sneak in one more goal, but a particular standout defensive effort saw the ball transition seamlessly from Campbell to Vicki to Paige to Georgia – great team play! Georgia, Paige and Dot also supported each other well in attack but that last goal remained elusive, and we ended up with a 2-2 draw.

Best Team Player Awards to Felix, Edward and Georgia.

Under 12

Newtown Spirit vs Newtown Strikers 3-2

Newtown Spirit had a slow start and were trailing 2-0 at half time. However in the second half they made a comeback with Jess scoring 2 goals and Lucas Y scoring one. Thank you to Joe and Ishe from Under 10s for filling in.

Under 14

Newtown Strikers vs Kardinia Maroon 7-0

A great second game for the U14 Newtown Strikers with the team able to record their first win of the season. The Strikers continued to gel together as a team and had excellent contributions from all players in a resounding 7-0 victory that was great to watch.

Continuing to build flexibility in the team, Kurt threw some players the challenge of playing in different positions and all players took to their roles and applied themselves with aplomb. The movement of the ball through the attacking zones in particular was great and some astute passing inside the circle opened up some great opportunities for goal. The Strikers shared the scoring and had five different goal scorers with Zac and Bella two each and Baxter, George and Oliver also finding the back of the goals.

The defence was also tremendous at repelling any Kardinia forays forward with Will patrolling the centre and distributing out to the wings regularly to create attacking opportunities. Kurt was particularly pleased to see the implementation of the strategies the team had worked on at training with great spread of players and more even use of both wings. It really shows the value of everyone getting along to training, and we certainly encourage all players to get there when they can.

Overall, it was great to see the team being able to deliver on the coach’s instructions and continuing to build together as a unit for a first win in what looks like great signs for the season ahead. Well done Strikers.

Under 17

Newtown Strikers vs Newtown Spirit 2-2

Firstly a big thank you to Nate Harding and George O’Neill from helping out Strikers on Saturday.

A good game from all involved and listening to our coach Harry re passes being short and directly to someone from our team. Chloe and Serena were working hard following up the ball. Brandon and Tilly never knew when to quit as ball came to them.

Nate successfully found the back of the net twice meaning we tied with Spirit. George made great position throughout the field and long and short passes from Amelia down the backline in defence. Mai in goals was amazing.

Newtown Spirit vs Newtown Strikers 2-2

Another beautiful morning out at Stead Park today.  This game saw excellent sportsmanship with Nate putting his hand up to assist the other Newtown team to even up the numbers for what ended up being a great game to watch. 

In the first half the Spirit team defended two very quick short corners by the opposition. Max did a great job clearing these out.  Spirit started to get their momentum with the ball spending time up forward with three opportunities at goal, it took a short corner soon after that was pushed out by Ruby and saw Leo score the first goal for the game.  The end of the first half saw spirit working hard to defend the goals. 

The second started strong, the team held good positions that provided Leo opportunities to move the ball forward.  Felix and Georgia working together and almost scoring and then Max scored within minutes of the third quarter starting. Defending was important during this half, it saw Madden defending and stopping several goals. 

The game finished with a two all draw. Formation and good team work was prevalent during this match. 

A great game that saw Max take out best player followed closely by Leo. 

Senior Men

Newtown Falcons vs Navigators 10-1

Newtown Strikers vs Geelong Blue 3-2

Great to see Dane score a goal in his second ever hockey match.

Division 1 Women

Newtown Falcons – Bye

Division 2 Women

Newtown Strikers vs Geelong 5-0

We were all set for a great match, but unfortunately Geelong had to forfeit the game due to lack of players. We were really looking forward to seeing our new recruit, Jane, on the field but we will have to wait for this week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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