Geelong goalie in Vipers squad

GEELONG hockey goalkeeper Morgan Gould has made the Victorian Vipers national league squad for the second straight year.

Gould, who only took up keeping full-time last season, is the No.3 keeper in the 24member squad behind Australia’s Rachael Lynch and New Zealand national squad member Ginny Wilson.

The 22-year-old former West Australian played a major role in Geelong’s Vic League 1 championship last season and has held her own in Premier League competition this year as the young Geelong side feels its way through its first season at the elite level.

Geelong coach Shane Walters praised the effort of Gould, who was the Sharks’ best play- er in a 2-1 loss to Waverley on Saturday.

The Vipers squad will be cut once more to 16 players and two goalkeepers ahead of the Australian Hockey League carnival, which will be played around the country in October.

A slow start proved costly for Geelong in its clash at Waverley, where the home side scored in the 12th minute.

A desperate Waverley, locked in a relegation fight with Melbourne University, added another in the 63rd minute with Geelong scoring its goal two minutes later through Jessi McDonald.

“Probably from mid first half we started to work our way back into it a bit,’’ Walters said.

“In the second half we were probably all over them to be honest and we were probably a bit unlucky in the end.’’

As well as Gould, Geelong has solid contributions from Rhea Sutton, Emma Hatton, Eliza Flanagan and debutante Puck Klaassen.

The 15-year-old Klaassen was one of six players under 18 in the team.

Geelong’s reserves lost 1-0 in a hard-fought match.

The men’s team lost 3-1 to finals-bound Old Xaverians in Melbourne yesterday and remains in a relegation fight with Monash University and Gippsland Bulls, which drew with WestVic on Saturday. Geelong meets second-placed KBH Brumbies next weekend.

Jayden Schram scored Geelong’s goal in the 53rd minute.

Meanwhile, Geelong’s Alison O’Reilly won a silver medal at the Under-50s World Cup in Spain, where Australia lost 1-0 to Ireland in the final.

It was Australia’s only loss of the campaign in which O’Reilly scored five goals.