Harewood now fifth in women’s hockey

Press, 18 July 1977, Page 17

Harewood now fifth in women’s hockey

Positions in the senior women's: hockey competition are little! changed after the week-end’s, games, although Harewood is continuing its downward slide. It has now 7 fallen to fifth-equal place after an 0-4 loss against an aggressive Cranmer, which replaces it in fourth position on the i points table. Carlton is still leading easily with an unblemished record of wins in the 11 games this season.! It came close to losing this this, week-end. however when Wool-, ston-Rawhiti prevented it from scoring until.the final quarter, i University proved it is still Improving its skill by drawing with Burnside, 3-3; it now holds fifth-equal place with Harewood.: Digbys gained its third win this season, beating a struggling Linwood United, 2-1. Both teams are still at the bottom of the tournament.

University 3, Burnside 3 University fared much better [ against Burnside in Saturday’s match than in the first round, [when it was beaten, 5-1. Yet although six goals were | scored the game produced a lot : of scrappy play and poor trap,'ping in particular. i The match began evenly then Burnside seized the initiative and Helen Denney, the centre forI ward, scored twice. I The tables turned, University .making frequent attacks near] the Burnside circle but suffering from its usual complaint of not I being able to finish them off. [ However, Nicky Sherriff finally; scored, making the score 2-1 at, half-time. University levelled the score! from a stroke when Nicky Sher-1 riff pushed the ball in the top: of the net. With play see-sawlng from end, 'to end it was left to Denney to complete her hat-trick by scor-l ing once again for Burnside. , University equalised near the end of the game when Suzette : Eastmond passed the ball across •to Doreen Ambrose, who scored. Rachel Fry covered a lot of > ground for University on the! left wing and fed useful ball to, the forwards. However, the backs often mis-’ trapped the ball and in the first half the Universitv forwards hit the ball across the circle but there was oftqn no-one there to • complete the move. |, Burnside too showed holes in [ its defence accentuated by trap- ' ping lapses and a gap between the forwards and the halves. . Cranmer 4, Harewood 1 i It was surprising that Cranmer i was three goals up at half-time, as although it was frequently in .

I possession of the ball, play was 1 relatively balanced. Cranmer I took ample advantage of opportunities that came its way, however, breaking through Harewood’s back line several times. Jill van der Plas made Cranmer’s first goal after a pass i from the right by Sue Prior, then June Miller followed suit with a similar shot to her from Sue Vickery. Shortly afterwards I van der Plas scored again, mak .ing the score 3-0. Harewood was awarded a iseries of penalty shots after half j time, although it capitalised on only one — when Janice Olivet followed in from Lyn Shaltz’s hit. ’ Schaltz was covering the field I thoroughly, keeping the ball well I up. Her team-mate, Barbara Turbott, was also in the thick of it and was unlucky not to score ■ from several vigorous offensives. I Cranmer’s Barbara Roper made her team’s fourth goal with a desperate thrust that : brought her to her knees. Play see-sawed for a while, until Cranmer’s temporary goalie, Jo James, stopped a dangerous drive by Harewood after a penalty corner. The game ended with Cranmer still four goals in the lead — a much more decisive result than when it drew with Harewood, 1-1, in the first round in May. Digbys 2, Linwood 1 Even though this game was transferred to another field, rough ground conditions limited the standard of hockey, In a lack-lustre first half Digbys had the upper hand but could not score until just before half-time when Helen Philips exploited a pass from Alison Chivers. Linwood missed a certain goal: in front of the net just after halftime. However, the centre; half, Leanne Summerton, scooped the ball into the net from the edge of the circle to equalise soon after. i

is In spite of several good irbreaks by Vivienne Jory on the r-right wing, Linwood could not v-maintain this pressure. a- Instead the team, forced on to the defensive, had to struggle to t- contain the Digbys’ forward isline, but It allowed Alison Chivr, to score the winning goal it for Digbys just before the final n whistle. Carlton 3, Woolston-Rawhiti 0 Although having a similar reasult to when these two teams f-last met, when Carlton won, 4-0; nthis week-end’s game was :rplayed in quite a different style, s In the earlier match Carlton made all its goals in the first dhalf and could not score In the llsecond. This time the order was r- reversed; Rawhiti tying Carlton if down to the extent that it could enot show its colours until the s. final quarter. r Rawhiti was working very il well, and Carlton looked as close tto being brought to its knees as it has this season. Kay Stephens :,and Henrietta Carrol were helpying to keep the forward line fors ward, with great determination. 1 The game’s first goal came by chance after a melee near the r goalmouth; it went in off the -back of a stick in spite of a t brilliant save by Rawhiti’s Deb--bie Hockley. 1 The second came 10 minutes from full time, when Shirley Haig scooped the ball high, re- > peating the feat shortly after- , wards with a classic hit from iwell out. There had been a nasty momE ment for Carlton shortly betforehand, when Rawhiti players • drew' the Carlton goalie away, s leaving an open goal. But the i Rawhiti coup de grace was aborted with a mishit, to their obvious chagrin. The tables turned shortly afterwards, when the ball , bounced askew off the pads of ; the Rawhiti goalie. Sue Molloney, narrowly missing the goalmouth.

Points:— 1 P W L D F A Pts Carlton 11 11 0 0 45 22 ■’ W-Rawhitl 11 6 3 2 23 17 14 I Burnside 11 5 3 3 27 21 13 Cranmer 11 4 4 3 19 12 11 I Harewood 11 3 4 4 13 15 10 University 11 4 5 2 19 11 10 ■ Digbys 11 3 7 1 13 26 7 Linwood-U. 11 0 9 1 7 40