MATCH REPORT

Women’s DP2 – Saturday May 25, 2002

Vs Kedron-Wavell

Score: 5-2

Our preparation for this match was terrible. We had one player pulling out on match day due to injury, one player arriving as a spectator without notifying the coach of her unavailability, one player arriving very late, players absent and a few feeling ill. Taking to the field with 10 players and many unforseen positional alterations, we had a horror start to the match, with Kedron-Wavell scoring after just a few minutes when a shot deflected by fullback Kayley left goalkeeper Bridgit with no chance. Sighting a young woman in a Norths uniform viewing from the sideline waiting for her match, I approached to ask if she could play left wing. She said she could - that was an understatement.

Her name was Lauren and her first touch of the ball saw her beat 3 players enroute to the circle and a backstick shot for a goal. Striking up an awesome (and frankly flawless) combination with Tonya our centre forward, the pair ran rampant in a breathtaking display of hockey highlighting the assets of speed, skill and excellent passing and goal scoring. The pair amassed 4 goals between them in 20 minutes, with Lauren netting a hat-trick before being rested and replaced by Danielle. After we all picked up our jaws from the ground a fifth goal saw us secure a dominant halftime lead.

This was certainly a game of two halves. As is often the case, we tired severely in the second half as our insistence on hitting long and playing all out attack in the first half fatigued us. Of course this is an OK tactic to adopt when its working well and we have a 4 goal lead, but normally we have to maintain possession and build up sustained pressure. Kym being at centre half and Danielle and Michelle at insides showed that we have a number of solid possible positional options and the illness and injury plagued team showed great determination with no substitutes.

At times Kedron-Wavell really dominated the second half despite the scoreline, and it was disappointing that we did not add a few more goals to our total. If we had of really belted them, we would have gained a big psychological advantage over a side that is teetering on the edge of the finals group. We could have severely dented their confidence and made them fearful of us leading up to our next encounter, but the fact that they won the second half negated that opportunity.

Goals: Lauren Vromans 3

Tonya Collins

Danielle Lee

Lee Oliver