Women, Under-16 boys off the blocks in TNB League
KUCHING: Eight matches were played in the second week of the TNB Sarawak Hockey League as the U16 boys and women’s draw got underway at Sarawak Hockey Stadium.
In the first game of the U16 boys, SMK Bako beat SMK Tebakang 2- 0 with both goals coming only in the last quarter.
The second match saw Paku New Boys playing Sakura.
PNB comprised players from SMK Paku which is the de facto hockey project school.
They raced to a 4- 0 lead at the break and spread the riches with six names on the scoresheet when it reached 6- 0.
Sakura mounted a fight back and stopped the rot with three quick goals in three minutes.
Paku, however, scored three more to close out the match 93 with Federico Lapu getting a hattrick and captain Felexson Vanoosten potting two.
The third and fourth matches were close affairs.
The see- saw battle between Excalibur and SMK Bako was tied 3- 3 by the 54th minute.
Excalibur, comprising students of SMK Penrissen No. 1, broke Bako hearts in the 59th min. when Christiopjer Mi-Au scored a field goal to win the match.
The last U16 match of the weekend was also tense as Tebakang scored a penalty corner in the 41st min. to take a 2-1 lead over Sakura.
But Andre D. Anthony scored with two minutes remaining to salvage a tie for Sakura. The two matches from the women’s draw were both lopsided.
SMK Bako managed to keep Kuching Hockey Association ( KHA) at bay and conceded only a goal in the first half.
KHA eventually got on track in the third quarter to score three times and won the match 5-2.
The other match saw Paku-Batu Lintang destroy SMK Tebakang 18- 0 to make observers wonder if it is in the best interest of the game to run up such a score.
In the men’s league, Belia Git extended their unbeaten record with a 5- 0 shutout of MTOB.
Lenet Mihed opened accounts in the 20th min. while skipper Dangerous L. Mathew had a hattrick.
The other match saw UNIXX rebound from their opening match loss to blank MatHoc 7- 0. Rioma Utok scored a brace. The league resumes this weekend with nine matches.
A key match- up will be the Eleven Warrior vs One XOX match at 3 pm on Saturday.