Slick Sharks pile on pain for La Trobe

LADDER leader Geelong flexed its muscles in women’s Vic League 1 hockey on Saturday with a crushing 10-0 win over La Trobe University at Stead Park.

While the unbeaten Geelong went in a clear favourite, the sixth-placed La Trobe would have been hopeful of a bold showing as it tried to kept its outside chance of playing finals alive.

Sadly for the visitors a strong defensive start proved all too brief. Geelong opened the scoring on 13 minutes through Eliza Vincent and never looked back, adding three more before halftime via Jessi McDonald (26 minutes), Vincent again (28) and captain Courtney Pearson (33).

Vincent and Pearson would go on to score hat-tricks, while Eliza Flanagan, Danica Williams and a second from McDonald right on full-time completed the rout.

“Once we knocked in the first one the game opened up a little bit,” coach Shane Walters said.

“The first half we had some real high quality hockey, which was good, with some end-toend stuff where we strung five or six passes together.

“The second half was a bit scrappy but the game opened up for us in the forward half of the ground.”

Walters rated the performance an ultimate team effort from his fit and healthy squad, finding it nearly impossible to single out a best player.

It is an ominous warning to the rest of the competition six weeks out from finals.

“We had a good week on the track at training and I said to the girls, it reflected how we played,’’ Walters said. Geelong’s reserves also crushed La Trobe with a 7-0 victory.

The Sharks are away to eighth-placed Knox next week.

The Geelong Vic League 1 men continued their frustrating year with a 3-3 draw with La Trobe Uni at the State Hockey Centre.

The match started with a flurry of goals — four in the opening 19 minutes — but settled into a real scrap from there after the two sides went to halftime locked at 2-2.

Geelong went ahead through Liam Kerr-Nelson with 10 minutes to go and thought it had won a penalty corner in the 67th minute, but the play was missed.

La Trobe capitalised on the play-on call, rushing the ball down the pitch to nail the equaliser.

Coach Dan Taylor was happy with the effort from his undermanned team but was disappointed with a result that got away.

Captain Mark Jackson returned from a hamstring injury to be named the man of the match.

The reserves also had a 2-2 draw, with both goals coming from Lewis Carr.