Albany A played City Highlanders in premier men's hockey on
Saturday night, with Albany A winning 3-2.
Kane Russell was the go-to man for Albany, scoring all three
of its goals, with all three coming in the same way -
thundering drag flicks from penalty corners that were too
much for goalkeeper James Bishop.
Trailing 2-0 at halftime, City had all the work to do in the
second half.
Captain and playmaker Matt Green stepped up with a low-flying
drag flick of his own, beating Paul Gager in goal.
Heath Dickson got another shortly after to level the scores
before City conceded yet another penalty corner, and Russell
added another to his mounting tally.
University B was drawn to play Kings United, but was unable
to field a team due to the holidays and had to forfeit the
game.
The university holidays also affected the Tuataras, who had
only five of their starting roster available for their clash
with University A, and relied heavily on ring-ins and members
of their B team to field a team.
This was reflected in the 10-0 scoreline.
St Hilda's drew 2-2 with Taieri in the feature women's
premier game.
It was a good chance for the improving schoolgirl team to
compete against the more highly-ranked Taieri due to
University players having left town in the break.
The game began with both Taieri and St Hilda's playing
classic right-sided attacking hockey, and both used the
back-and-around to good effect.
St Hilda's made use of the passing between right inner and
right wing, while Taieri made clever use of its left wing.
Some long hits out of defence opened the game up and suddenly
Taieri was in the St Hilda's goalmouth threatening to score.
The ball was scrambled out and a crack in from St Hilda's
came to nothing.
Taieri swept forward and sent the ball into the circle, and a
brilliant goal was flicked home over the goalie's pads by
Laura McKay.
St Hilda's played a dangerous ball into the circle but the
chance went unconverted.
A further circle penetration and a spectacular dive by Sarah
McLaren evened up the scores.
Within minutes, however, Taieri won a penalty corner cracked
home by Rebecca King to put it back in front.
A period of sustained Taieri pressure followed until a
counter by St Hilda's again found the school forwards not
alert.
However, St Hilda's started to make great use of the space
available which culminated in two penalty corners, the second
of which was slotted home by Emma Spratt to secure the draw.
The only other game played ended with Momona A beating Momona
B 5-2.
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