There were no U14 and U16 games this week due to the Victorian Junior Country Championships in Melbourne. It was a very successful weekend for the Hockey Geelong teams with 2 Gold medals and 3 Silver medals. Congratulations to the 29 Newtown members who were involved in the 6 Hockey Geelong teams as players, coaches and team managers.
Under 10 Stead Park
Newtown Strikers vs Corio 4-3
On a cold and damp morning at Stead Park, Newtown Strikers were soon heating up the hockey field against Corio. The game was characterised by some great teamwork and passing, with fantastic link up play between players.
It wasn’t long before Strikers hit the lead. A short corner from Zach made its way to Ryder who took it into the D to set up Lily for a cool finish.
The cool and collected passing continued, Strikers having the larger share of possession. Soon there was a second goal for the Strikers made with a little controversy. Left winger Zach played the ball to Harry who, carrying the ball into the D, found himself at an acute angle to the goal. Despite the difficult angle Harry took the shot and it appeared to be going in only for his sister Lily to “steal” the goal on the line. Needless to say Harry wasn’t too impressed with his sibling.
In defence Ryder was solid at the back making crucial interceptions and Elspeth continued her superb form in goal with some fine saves on the line and coolly clearing the ball to the side.
A goal either side of half time for Corio meant the scores were level at 2-2, however it wasn’t long before the Strikers took the lead again with the team goal of the day. Great play through middle of the park saw Harry pass it off to Will who moved it on to Zach. He provided the through ball for Lily to run on to it in the D and complete her hat-trick.
Some positional changes for Strikers gave players a chance to shine in a variety of roles. Will made some great runs and passes down the right wing and both Austin and Ryder went close with fantastic attempts at goal. Austin making a strong pass to Ryder who set up Zach to apply the finish for a fourth goal.
Some excellent variety in our short corners allowed Strikers to keep the pressure on Corio but it was Corio who scored the next goal.
Excellent team defending and marking of the Corio players kept the opposition away from our goal and despite some near misses for us there were no more goals, giving the Strikers a 4-3 win in a very enjoyable game to watch.
Newtown Spirit vs Geelong Jaguars 3-6
In their fourth outing of the season, Newtown Spirit took on the Geelong Jaguars in a tightly contested match played on a cold morning—with the rain thankfully holding off.
Spirit started strongly with an early short corner, as Charlie fired a close shot on goal. Rupert was solid in the middle, clearing the danger confidently. The early pressure paid off with Charlie finding the back of the net for Spirit’s first goal. Miriam anchored the defence with great effort, and moments later followed up a crucial clearance with more strong defending, setting up another opportunity for Charlie to add a second goal.
Eliza came close soon after with a well-taken shot that narrowly missed, while Albert stood firm in the centre of defence, halting several Jaguar advances. Spirit went into the break with a narrow 2–1 lead after a strong first-half showing.
The second half began with a burst of momentum from Geelong, who scored four quick goals in succession. Despite the setback, Spirit responded with renewed determination. The combination on the right-hand side between Eliza, Charlie, and Miriam resulted in another chance on goal—just missing, but reigniting the team’s energy.
Miriam continued to shine in defence, making a crucial clearance to the left while under pressure. Though Geelong added another goal, Spirit found a late reply as Eliza finished off a long run following a sharp centre pass from Miriam.
The final score was a 6–3 win to the Jaguars, but the match felt much closer on the field, with Spirit’s teamwork, strong defence, and attacking consistency standing out.
Under 10 Lloyd Reserve
Dynamos vs Newtown Rebels 19-1
For round 3, U10s at Lloyd reserve, the Dynamos had a strong result of 19-1 against Rebels. The team played with only 4 players this week.
Mathilda got her debut goal (and a tidy 6 others),with some fantastic team work with Flynn setting up many of those goals and he got an impressive 5 goals also.
Michaela was showing some fantastic determination and grit in attack and also picking up a great 4 goals. Florence showed some speed and agility around the pitch and an amazing 3 goals.
The team really showed development in their team work, passing and working together. Rebels showed resilience in a tough match and thanks to them for playing.
Great game both teams, hope everyone had fun.
Newtown Rockets vs Newtown Jets 1-2
Thanks to Sonny and Leila for filling in for Rockets. This was a great game with some excellent ball control and teamwork from both teams. Strong passes from defence allowed Rockets to move the ball out of danger, with David in great position to block the approach to goal by Jets players. Good running by Alex to move the ball into attack but a tendency to crowd the play made it difficult to move with freedom. Tully was in the right position in space to score the goal for Rockets. Rockets are improving their marking of opposition players each week leading to this tightly contested game.
Under 12
Newtown Strikers vs Corio 1-0
Newtown Spirit vs Geelong Roar 6-1
Still on a high from their first win of the season, team Spirit took to the pitch with a spring in their step. PR generously gave his time to coach them this week as Grace and Charlotte were representing Geelong at JCC.
We started the match two players short as Austin and Ryder were still on the U10 pitch as fill-ins. Without a chance to catch their breath or take a sip of water, they sprinted from pitch 2 straight onto pitch 1. They quickly joined their team mates who had been holding play despite being outnumbered.
For the most part, the game was controlled by team Spirit. Our attacking and midfield were very active all game while our defence only briefly saw the ball. There were many attempts at goal that either just narrowly missed the goal or were stopped by Roar’s goal keeper.
From the sideline PR didn’t need to do much coaching, they played very well as a team. When he did need to coach he reminded them to face the ball and go wide rather than down the middle. Overall, it was a brilliant team effort that translated to a 6-1 win on the scoresheet.
Two goals each to Elwood and Mitchell, and one goal each to Caspar and Hugo. Leon defended our goals.
Congratulations team Spirit on a great win.
Division 1 Women
Newtown Falcons vs Geelong 1-0
Well it was only a matter of time before the hard work that everyone in the team has been putting in since the start of the season paid off, which made the 1 – 0 victory on the weekend ever so sweet.
With a number of players unavailable due to the JCC weekend, we were incredibly lucky to have Ali and Em fill in and Zali double up for us. The game itself was evenly matched with both sides having a number of attacking plays, but it wasn’t until late in the game that Ali was able to find the back of the net.
What has been a stand-out this season is the level of pressure that the team has been able to apply to the opposition, resulting in unforced errors which we’ve then been able to take advantage of. Gutsy efforts from the whole team, particularly Kim who took a decent hit to the body, came off for a few minutes and then got back out onto the field. With Rach away, props to Georgie who jumped in goals and made a number of saves and to everyone else on the field that ground the game out to the very end.
We’ve got a well earned bye this coming week, so looking forward to seeing who else we can knock off this season.
Division 2 Men
Newtown Falcons vs Geelong White 2-3
Division 2 Women
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay Tornadoes 0-9
After 3 great games to start the season, we were back to earth with a thud this week.
We had some great play along the side-lines from Zali, Kristy and Lara to move forward into the attack zone. However, a lack of connection between our forwards and midfield meant we couldn’t capitalise on this progress.
Torquay were able to move out of their defence zone with relative ease, always finding a free player and quickly putting pressure on our defence. Despite great work from Zali and Rickie, Torquay managed to get into the circle on numerous occasions. Torquay’s young players had plenty of speed and pounced on any loose traps and soft clearances to constantly put pressure on the defence. There were plenty of shots at goal but many successful shots came from close play right in front of goal.
