Great Lakes Strikers women’s hockey team combined in a thriller on Friday night to score a great 3-1 win over the strongly second placed Town side.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
With a couple of players unavailable for this crucial clash the remainder of the side adapted to their various positions and combined as a team to overcome the much fancied Town line-up.
Both sides began strongly with Town gaining the upper hand from the first whistle and really pushed the Strikers’ defence.
Some great defensive work by Cathy Groth and Anna Black coupled with some dogged saves by keeper Gloria Smith kept Town scoreless until a penalty corner saw a great shot towards goal and unfortunately a high deflection from a Strikers stick gave Gloria no chance of a save.
However not to be disheartened Strikers regrouped to play and displayed some of the best use of passing and teamwork so far this season.
Strikers’ forwards Kelly O’Byrne, Linda Thacker and Marlene Masters ran themselves into some great open spaces to really upset the Town defence, while Anita Lauder, Sami Annetts and Sarah Linhart as attacking midfield proved to be dynamic in their tackling, ball control and distribution allowing the forwards more room to move in the attacking half.
As a result several penalty corners were awarded and finally Anna found her direction to bring the game to a one all draw.
With this Strikers realized the were in with a show, so after half time still sticking to their game plan with utilizing the ball, another run from the right saw Sarah in great position to slot home a great goal from a very narrow angle.
This made Strikers even more determined to hold Town out and try to press their advantage further.
They were rewarded when another penalty corner saw Anna slot in her second to give Strikers the win by 3-1.
Of particular note was the consistent and great performance of captain Tracy Thompson who had the task of filling in the centre as half and had such a great game, coupled with her determined and aggressive daughter Ashley who also had an impressive game, so much so they earned points from the umpires with Tracy 3 and Ashley 1, well deserved.
Strikers team points went to –Anna 3, Tracy and Gloria 2 and Ashley 1.
This week there are no local games as the Half State Women’s Masters Tournament is being held in Taree.
Strikers have several members involved in the representative teams, Gloria Smith, Sally Hunt, Marlene Masters, Cathy Groth and Jane McNeill.
Good luck to these players and enjoy the weekend of hockey.
