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Dalefield
Te Awa
Farriers Dalefield’s defence of their Intercity Championship remains on course after their 10–2 victory over Hawke’s Bay side Te Awa at the Trust House Wairarapa Hockey Complex on Saturday.
The home side scored five goals, all of which were converted for the extra goal, in what player-coach Benedict van Woerkom feels was a very good all-around performance.
“From the first whistle, we played some really good hockey right through to the last whistle,” van Woerkom said.
“We executed really well in both circles; defensively, they had a few circle entries, but we were good enough with our defence, and in the second half, we were really good in the attacking circle.”
Hamish Finlayson got the scoring underway in the first quarter, but it stayed at 2–0 until the third period when Alex Sumenko-Bucknell and van Woerkom scored in quick succession before Finlayson and Rowan Yeo wrapped up the scoring in the final period.
The most spectacular goal came from Te Awa, though, when a player raised his stick to protect himself from being hit by the ball from a hard shot, only for the deflection to take the ball into the net.
Dalefield will meet old foes Hutt United in Saturday’s semifinal.
WOMEN
HSHC
Dalefield
Farriers Dalefield overcame a sluggish start to record their first win of the Intercity Championship, recovering from a goal down to beat High School Hockey Club [HSHC] in Palmerston North on Saturday.
After trailing 1–0 at halftime, Dalefield produced a strong third quarter, with a goal to Felicity Reidy, which she converted giving them the lead. Alana Lowe scored the second field goal in the final quarter, giving the young side an important victory.
“It’s a young team. We lost nine from last year, and it’s a building stage,” coach Michael Sacke said.
“We’ve just got to win a few games to keep our belief and the last two games we’ve played pretty well, so I think they’re starting to understand what we’re trying to do and getting familiar with the other players; it’s starting to show.
“Different players in different positions and new players coming in always take a bit of adjustment, especially when they’re so young and inexperienced.”
Sacke praised the impact of Reidy, who returned from a month sidelined with injury, saying the former Black Stick “ran really hard and put them [HSHC] under pressure”, while Luana Felix kept Dalefield in the game in the first half with some good saves, and the defence led by captain Michael O’Connor and Gace Craig played well.
Sacke is uncertain who their opponents are in the bottom four semifinals – it is likely to be Tech Academy from Hawke’s Bay.
