Premier hockey fell victim to the elements at the weekend
with the top men's game between Albany A and University A
delayed until Monday night.
University won the match 3-1 and the two clubs share the
points trophy awarded at the end of the round robin.
The semifinals will be held this weekend.
Both teams were aggressive from the outset, as they took turn
about terrifying the opposition defence.
Tom Clarkson came closest for University in the early
minutes, hitting the crossbar from a penalty corner drag
flick.
Clarkson got another chance five minutes later, and made sure
it stuck, flicking the ball low and hard beyond the reach of
keeper Miles Roberts.
Seven minutes later, it was University's turn to sweat as
Kane Russell tidied up a messy ball outside the circle and
drove deep, getting a shot away.
It was blocked but the rebound went straight to Callum
Bailey, who buried the ball in the back of the net.
University went into halftime looking like the stronger team
while Albany looked rattled, lacking ideas on attack and
often desperate on defence.
Hugo Borren (University) was shown a yellow card early in the
second half for a poor tackle on Dave Ross, reducing the
students to 10 men.
This only spurred on the men in blue as they pressed forward.
Sandeep Niah set up Veeran Morar after 20 minutes to push
University out to a 2-1 lead, before Borren came back to
score a scorching rebound goal from a Niah shot.
The Tuataras-Kings game was called off due to the weather,
and City Highlanders wrapped up the final semifinals spot
with a 4-3 win over University B.
In the women's competition, Taieri A wrapped up its regular
season with a 2-0 victory over second-placed University A on
Saturday night.
University dominated the first half but was unable to convert
its advantage into goals.
Seven minutes into the second half, Taieri edged ahead
through Phillipa Symes.
University keeper Liz Gifford clearly misjudged the line of
the ball, and had to watch in horror as it bobbled into the
back of the goal.
Symes had another attempt moments later, intercepting a back
pass from University, and running 20m before being tackled in
the circle by Gifford.
Taieri added a second right on fulltime through a Rebecca
King penalty corner.
In other games, Momona A beat City Highlanders 3-0 and St
Hilda's downed Momona B 3-0.
- Jeff Paterson
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