Upset in women’s hockey

Press, 16 April 1984, Page 26

Upset in women’s hockey

Lincoln College caused the biggest upset in the second round of the Permanent Building Society senior women’s hockey competition on Saturday by holding Selwyn to a 1all draw. Lincoln, which failed to rise from the bottom of the points table last season, would have been quoted at long odds against Selwyn, but played like a team inspired and thoroughly deserved the draw. In the other matches, Woolston mastered Harewood 2-1; Pegasus convincingly beat Rangiora 4-1 and Carlton, not surprisingly, bettered Sydenham 6-0. Scores and scorers:— Lincoln 1 (G. Richards), Selwyn 1 (D. Wilson). Halftime: 1-1. Woolston 2 (D. Hockley, L. Wilson), Harewood 1 (C. Smith). Half-time: 1-1. Pegasus 4 (K. Hook. D. Richards, J. Hibbert, L. Riesterer), Rangiora 1 (F. Gardiner). Halftime: 3-0. Carlton 6 (S. Haig 3, D. Gillanders, R. Blackman, H. Read), Sydenham 0. Half-time: 4-0. LINCOLN 1, SELWYN 1 A glance at the faces in the Lincoln camp after the 1-all draw against Selwyn suggested that Lincoln had bettered, rather than equalled, its opponent’s score. But the elation was deserved, for Lincoln produced one of its best performances against a skilled team. Admittedly, Selwyn was without three experienced team members in Trish Hunt, Pip Wilson and Mary Campbell, and two of the replacements played out of position, but that alone was not reason enough to explain the result. Instead, Lincoln played with courage and vigour, and went hunting for the ball instead of letting Selwyn dictate terms. By taking the initiative and committing so many to attack, it sometimes left its defences open but Selwyn did not manage to exploit the position. At 1-all at half-time, Selwyn could have been excused for thinking Lincoln would soon release its grip on things. Lincoln did look shaky in the last 10 minutes but the de-

fence, if not the most organised, held. Ali Todd, who had not previously played a senior match, made a couple of smart saves for Lincoln and with Helen Cameron and Maria Nicholls at centre half and left inner respectively, Lincoln was far more efficient than usual. WOOLSTON 2, HAREWOOD 1 Woolston triumphed over Harewood in the most exciting and even match of the day. The teams were well matched in both ability and

style. Cindy Smith, the Harewood centre half who is also helping coach Lincoln College, was impressive, and produced Harewood’s only goal from a penalty corner. Her Canterbury under 21 team-mate, Debbie Hockley, the Woolston captain and centre forward, provided the inspiration for her side to withstand a late challenge from Harewood which threatened to force the match to extra time. In the last minutes, Woolston

retreated into a somewhat hasty looking defence, but the opportunities for Harewood to come back into the match went begging. Leah Wilson, Woolston’s first goal scorer, and Sue Duggan played with flair while Smith appeared the pick of Harewood’s forwards. PEGASUS 4, RANGIORA 1 Pegasus issued a warning it will become a force to contend with by beating Rangiora 4-1. Although the winning margin was not great, Pegasus clearly stamped its mark on the game and led by three goals at half-time.

Kim Hook and Delwyn Richards put the first two field goals in, and the third, scoring shot came from Lyn Riesterer, who goaled in good style from a penalty corner. Liz Reeves, the Rangiora captain, covered a lot of ground and although her side pulled back a goal in the second half, Pegasus countered again to maintain its winning margin. CARLTON 6, SYDENHAM 0 It was hardly surprising that Carlton, a team boasting several current ■ internationals, prevailed over Sydenham by half a dozen goals.

Shirley Haig, who scored four times last week, added another three to go with those from Robyn Blackman, Debbie Gillanders and Hayley Read. The superior skills and discipline that Carlton possessed meant that Sydenham was never in the hunt, in spite of the urgings of Trish Stevens in the frontline forwards. Sydenham could take pride though from the performance of Karen Bradley, who has replaced the injured Janine McLeod in goal. Bradley, a former Manawatu age group representative, looked confident for most of the match.