Our junior hockey competitions had a great week, with lots of exciting matches and some great sportsmanship shown throughout.
In Thursday night hockey, U11s boys games saw a goal bonanza with 30 being scored over three matches! The two Royals teams were on target with 19 goals shared between them, with both teams taking the win against Bears. Under 13’s boys/Div 1 girls saw Sailors take comfortable wins in both games over Royals. Under 16’s boys was a tight affair across the board with each team playing the modified format for 2020 of two 25 minute games. Royals versus Sailors was a nil all draw. Sailors (1) defeated Bears (0), and Royals (1) defeated Bears (0). It was great to see the Bears & Sailors goalkeepers displaying some great sportsmanship, filling in for Royals who are without a keeper for 2020.
Saturday Juniors saw the rest of our Juniors get their games in under beautiful clear skies. Junior girls Mods have teams from Sailors, McAuley and Bears out there learning new skills and having a blast. The U7 boys competition has been impacted by COVID, with just two teams entered this year, but those Royals and Bears teams are not letting that hold them back. Under 9 boys has Royals, Sailors and Bears playing two mini-matches each week. Junior girls Div 2 and Div 3 had some very close games over the weekend. In Div 3, Village Green Junior Angels (1) defeated McAuley Smash (0), while in the other game Sailors Comets (2) defeated Sailors Stars (0). Div 2 saw some very tight matches, with Sailors Thunder sneaking ahead in their two games to take 1-0 wins over McAuley and Sailors Lightning. Sailors Lightning (1) defeated McAuley (0) in their match.
In women’s 3rd Grade, games continue to be closely contested. In a high scoring game, Baileys Stars (5) defeated Bears (4). Sailors Addictive Hair and McAuley Marvels were unable to be split, finishing 1 goal a piece.
Baileys Diamonds continued their good form in 2nd Grade with a close win over Sailors Allure Derma (2-1). Both teams played well but Baileys composure on the ball made the difference. Westlawn’s Ebony Herden had some good results in their penalty corner attack, helping her team to a 3-0 win over McAuley Blue.
The early part of the season is seeing some top quality hockey being played in the women’s 1st Grade competition. Too bad COVID restrictions mean the spectators are limited. With the GHA off field COVID safe process running smoothly, the women’s 1st Grade competition returned to games of 30 minute halves (from the 25 minute halves in the first 2 rounds). This proved an important difference to Coffs Crusaders, who came from 1-0 down with 10 minutes remaining, to take a 2-1 win over Barbs Helgas. Sailors Roches (2) defeated McAuley White (1) in another tight match. Sailors persistence and patience in attack paid off against the McAuley side who were missing a few key players for the match. Aleisha Third made the most of her chances in close, scoring both of Sailors goals.
The men’s 3rd Grade competition enjoyed their second game of the season on Sunday after wet weather washed out games last week. Royals Irish are showing some early form with two wins from two.
Angie Day