The University Blue Whales claimed student bragging rights with an 8-0 win over the University Black Panthers in the premier men's competition on Saturday.
Phase two of the premier competition started with a dominant performance by the Whales, who took an early lead after a clean whack at goal by Kieran O'Connor.
The Whales set up a penalty corner a few minutes later and looked a bit rusty after a poor trap at the top of the circle. Determined not to squander the opportunity, Jarrod Casey fought his way back into position to claim a goal.
O'Connor made scoring goals look easy and squared another two shots straight into the net to claim a hat trick.
The Whales continued to show weakness with the next penalty corner, but recovered with the subsequent one after a conversion by Robbie Paterson.
The Panthers kept fighting back and some fast work by Michael Sewell helped the side with possession. A slow penalty corner showed the Panthers lacked enough conviction in order to get the goal.
After the break, penalty corners remained an issue for both teams. The Whales had three consecutive corners but failed to convert any.
Paresh Dayal showed some power for the Panthers in the second half but it was not enough to get past the more technically savvy Whales offence.
Lachie Davidson scored two goals for the Whales, one from a casual flick at goal, and some great technical work by O'Connor led to James Bennett completing the scoring.
In the other men's premier game, the Albany Alligators and King's United A tied 2-2, before a 3-2 penalty shootout win netted the challenge shield for the Alligators.
In the men's premier 2 grade, KETOB A beat Albany B 7-1, and the Taieri Tuataras beat the University Seals 9-0.
By James Hall.
