AFTER a brief hiatus, the women’s hockey divisions were back in action with three matches taking place on Sunday.
Division 1 saw two matches: Jersey Ladies’ Hockey Club 1st XI taking on the Walkers Flames, and JTC RWB facing off against Walkers Dragons; whereas in Division 2 the sole game pitched JLHC 2nd XI against Quackers 2nd XI.
With both teams playing their season opener, the JLHC 1s claimed their first three points of the campaign at the expense of the Flames, triumphing 6-3 thanks to Farrah Firby, Sarah Jenkins and Harley Cadoret scoring two goals apiece.
Firby was the first to draw blood with a successful effort on the 14-minute mark, albeit the lead was shortlived as a quick riposte from Willoughby Spry levelled the score.
Trading goals quickly once again, Firby was able to take her team ahead for the second time, only for her effort to be foiled off the back of a deflected own goal.
Almost immediately, Jenkins came to the rescue for JLHC, taking the score to 3-2 and thereafter the game was firmly in hands of the victors to-be.
Subsequently, Cadoret and Jenkins put out the Flames goal-trading trend, following up from each other and tripling their teams’ lead.
Sam Le Boutillier attempted to reignite the Flames’ spark in the 67th minute with a goal of their own, even so, the Flames were still two goals behind and Cadoret was able to score once again, putting the game to bed with only 10 minutes left to play.
In the other Division 1 contest, RWB made their intentions clear as they ran riot over the Dragons.
Despite falling to Quackers in the opening game of the season, RWB outclassed the team in front of them by a score of 7-1.
A sole score from Josh Winstanley on the side of Dragons was eclipsed by the seven put in the net by RWB.
Chloe Cutting slotted four goals and Zoe Smart got two. However, the highlight of the game goes to Neve Macken, who made her Jersey goal-scoring debut by sending a screamer of a flick across the goal.
Meanwhile, the Ladies’ second-flight game saw JLHC 2s fall to Quackers 2nd XI 2-3 thanks to Isla Rafferty, Betty Dunne and Sasha Rillstone.
Goals from Lexi Edward and Scarlet Haynes proved insufficient for JLHC, as Quackers rose to pole position in the fledgling Ladies’ Division 2 campaign with one win and one draw so far.
Rounding off a successful weekend for Quackers, their first team returned from Guernsey 4-1 victors over Sarnian champions Tenn Colombian Puffins in the annual Upton fixture.
Meanwhile, in Men’s Division 2, Affinity JHC Lions and Victoria College Colts squared off in their opening games of the season.
In a clash that echoed the scoreline from Ladies’ RWB-Dragons match-up, the hat-trick from Richard Laignel would have proved enough for the Lions.
In spite of this, Ade Heelis, Martin Le Boutillier, Arnou Helmholt-Kneisel and Richard Horsfall also chipped in to take their team’s tally to seven, to round off a 7-2 success.
Having previously been bested by Panthers in their Division 2 campaign, Victoriana secured their first win of the season against Hunters 2-1, courtesy of a Louis Bell double.
Match of the week by Nathan Maguire – Hautlieu 1st XI 3-1 Affinity JHC Leopards.
Entering the game, it was abundantly clear a competitive match would ensue, especially with Hautlieu hungry for their first win of the season.
It took Leopards only eight minutes to find a way through the Hautlieu back line after Ben Heelis capitalised on a poor controlling touch in the D from the defending side, leading to a simple tap-in.
Holding their heads high, Hautlieu responded well and found an equaliser midway through the first-half.
A quick move from Rupert Lee off the back of a 16-yard distribution from Guy Harding set him away down the right wing.
Despite being intercepted, Lee’s teammate, Tiaan Kruger, collected the loose ball, and fired it towards the Leopards’ goal.
Lee found himself in the path of Kruger’s attempt and subsequently managed to divert it under the keeper to square the contest.
Both teams continued to push, but they only produced half-chances for the remainder of the half, unable to break the deadlock.
Leopards emerged from the locker room strongly and put Hautlieu’s defensive skills to the test.
Despite creating a myriad of chances, none were converted until Heelis managed a driving run into the Hautlieu D.
In turn, Heelis let fly with a reverse strike that culminated in the ball being collected from behind the goal.
Controversy ensued as Heelis believed he had scored and the ball had been fired through a hole in the net. However, after a period of deliberation, the umpires believed that the shot had gone wide of the post.
With a decision in their favour, Hautlieu began to mount some promising attacks of their own.
An aerial ball played by Nathan Maguire looked to set Joe Dias free to carve a path around the Leopards’ keeper.
However, contact on the way through saw Dias go to ground, resulting in the Leopards’ keeper being sent off for 10 minutes.
Initially, Hautlieu were unable to take advantage of the short-handed Leopards’ side as, wearing a face mask, Sam Dunston reacted brilliantly off the back off the penalty corner to deflect a drag flick from Kruger’s stick over the bar.
A few minutes later, however, Hautlieu took the lead as Olly van Klaveren linked up with Lee inside of the Leopards’ D. Without a goalkeeper, the finish from Lee was a mere formality.
After the reinstatement of their keeper, Leopards pushed for an equaliser while Hautlieu looked to put the game out of reach.
With five minutes left, Hautlieu’s Kruger picked up the ball on the halfway line and made a storming run past the Leopards defence.
Entering the D, he took a rifled a reverse strike into the bottom right-hand corner of the net, securing the win and their first three points of the season.
