Taieri was clearly delighted to beat Momona A 3-1 in the
women's premier match played on Saturday.
With both teams having several new players, it was a
tentative start as they tested each other out.
Taieri won an early penalty corner and, though slow to
execute the first strike, a soft shot from the breakdown put
in by Olivia Smeele caught the Momona defence off guard and
went in.
This was a wake-up call to the classy Momona women, who began
looking strong on attack with well-judged long passes
forward, pressure that led to an opportunity in the circle
being seized upon by Momona's Holly-May Taylor, who volleyed
the ball in to equalise.
A fierce battle followed, with Momona pressing hard through
the midfield.
It was a fast-running game, with Taylor starring, but sharp
saves from fill-in goalkeeper Katie McEnroe kept Taieri in
the game.
After the halftime break, Momona hit some strong attacking
balls into the circle but Taieri timed its tackles well.
After a high ball hit a Momona player in the eye, Taieri
turned the game around and pressure in the attacking circle
was capitalised on by Hayley Bayne, who scored a
reverse-stick goal.
A runaway by Momona was halted by Susan Dunn, resulting in a
yellow card and penalty corner to Momona, but the striker hit
her own player and again the Taieri goalkeeper prevailed.
Taieri then put a beautifully weighted ball up to Pip Symes,
who skilfully drew the goalie to clinch the match.
In other games, University A beat St Hilda's 1-0 and City
Highlanders A beat Momona B 2-1.
Albany thumped Kings A 5-0 in the second round of the premier
men's competition on Saturday.
The game got off to a slow start with both teams struggling
to find any rhythm.
Small errors hampered the efforts of both teams to make any
serious inroads into the other's defence.
It took 20 minutes for Albany striker Callum Bailey to break
the deadlock when he sneaked one into the back of the net.
Bailey then struck again eight minutes later, getting a stick
to a loose ball in the Kings circle.
Albany began to get some flow into its game, and two minutes
later, Kane Russell executed a brilliant reverse stick shot
to put Albany up 3-0 against his old team heading into
halftime.
After the break, Albany continued from where it had left off,
with Bailey again getting a deft touch on a cross from Rod
Rzepecky wide out.
Jason Dungey completed Kings' bad day with a goal late in the
half.
Kings had patches of good play but errors and a lack of
composure let it down badly.
In other results, University A beat City Highlanders 3-1, and
University B beat the Tuataras 4-0.
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