VCB Hockey Update
Superleague 1st XI Match Report - Victoria vs Lurgan
Wednesday 20th September
Torrential rain, again. The super league continues, up against Lurgan, we were mentally preparing for a tough game. With a strong, dominating press we quickly won possession of the ball and cut Lurgan off with the precision of our passing. Within the early minutes of the first half Emilia Cutrona fired a shot into the corner of the goal; 1-0 in favour of VCB. Feeling quite impressed with ourselves we continued strong, with a few blips regarding marking the defence were challenged with some very experienced strikers on the opposition. Defensive composure rewarded us possession once again, concluding the first half. Hopping back on we materialised points considered during half time and our urgency was promising. The defensive line managed to link passes with the midfielders, notably Beth Walker and Caitlin Murphy skilfully created space for our attack. Great triangles formed by Emma Conlin, Zahra Lowry and Georgia Ross marked goal number two for Emilia. As Lurgan grew frustrated girls were shoved to the ground, sticks were thrown and cards were rewarded. Vic girls focused on their game, however, the opposition managed to find the net. With ten minutes to go, both teams were hungry for victory. VCB took the win with a final score of 2-1.
By Charlotte Hill
Superleague 1st XI Match Report - Victoria vs Rainey
Wednesday 13th September
Today was the 1XIs first competitive match of the season. It was also our first super league match. We played Rainey at Queens dub. As per usual it was raining when we got there but as we started our warm up the sun came out and it turned out to be quite a nice day. Rainey have a reputation of being good so we were all a bit nervous before the match.
The whistle blew and the ball was passed back. Our forwards and midfields started strong. Our passing was on fleek, tiring our opposition out. The ball went from mids to forwards to backs to mids traveling at lightening pace around the pitch. This accurate passing lead to the first goal which was scored by Sarah Webb. With smiles on our faces we continued to maintain our hard workrate. The opposition unfortunately made it past out forward line leaving the mids and defence the last resort. A penalty corner was awarded to them which lead to their first goal. Despite the defences efforts another goal was scored by our opposition. A half time it was 2-1 to Rainey.
After plenty of water and a quick team talk the second half began. The match was evenly matched as the majority of the play was in the middle two quarters of the pitch. Once again we got into Rainey’s circle leading to a brilliant shot from Sarah Webb which just missed the net. Cate demonstrated her skills, running down the left side of the pitch and making a perfect pass to Georgia Ross, who pressured the goalie. Unluckily Rainey fought back breaking through our defence and providing them with a shot on goal. Our defence worked hard and managed to prevent this from becoming a goal with the great tackles they made. Although we worked our hardest Rainey managed to slip one more passed the goalie. Overall we lost the match 3-1 but we held our heads up high as we had learnt many things from our play.
By Rebecca Bunn
