Sharks chase win in women’s Premier League
GEELONG will be chasing its first win in women’s Premier League hockey when its hosts Waverley at Stead Park next Saturday.
Despite suffering a second straight loss at the start of its 2018 campaign — a 5-1 loss to a powerful Essendon on Saturday — coach Shane Walters was far happier with the effort than the opening round loss to KBH Brumbies.
“It was a big step up on last week,’’ Walters said of a scoreline he said wasn’t indicative of the Sharks’ performance.
“If we play that way next week we’ll improve again. We’ve got Waverley at home next week coming off two losses as well.
“I don’t think the scoreline reflected the game (against Essendon). There was a period in the second half where they knocked in three goals but it was a big step up from last week they way the girls went about it.’’
Essendon went 2-0 up after 14 minutes on Saturday, but a Jessi McDonald goal on 30 minutes boosted the confidence at halftime.
“The girls were up and about at halftime and we were quite good early in the second half, but it was just that patch in the middle of the second half that cost us,’’ Walters said.
Essendon’s Aisling Utri pushed the scoreline to 3-1 with her second goal 43 minutes in and they sealed the result with another at 59 minutes at Utri’s third on 61 minutes.
Walters said Geelong’s best effort came at the defensive end of the pitch with goalkeeper Morgan Gould leading the way with solid contributions from Gab Sutton and Jane Patten. Captain Emma Hatton was also in good touch through the midfield.
The women’s reserves team lost 9-0.
In men’s Vic League 1, a brave Geelong went down 4-1 to Gippsland Bulls in their opening match of the season.
While disappointing, coach Terry Moore was pleased an undermanned and underdone outfit had held their own for the opening 45 minutes.
“It was pretty even, but we fell away in the second half,’’ said Moore, who stepped in as coach just two weeks ago.
“It was disappointing, but it was a combination of a few things. We’ve got a newer side and we didn’t really get a good pre-season in and not having a coach in place (hurt).
“We had our opportunities in the first half and the second half was similar but they just got away.’’
A hat-trick from Gippsland’s Matthew Zurrer in the space of 22 minutes put Geelong to the sword.