Big wins for Hutt and Kapiti

Hutt finished strongly to overcome Harbour City 7-2 and consolidate their top spot in the premier hockey men’s competition.

Former Dutch age-group representative Daan Jongejan scored early for the Maroons but Harbour’s Luke Armstrong levelled late in the first quarter. Hutt took charge after half-time with Jongejan scoring again, and Ollie Logan netting twice from penalty corners.

Josh Symonds grabbed one back for Harbour, but late goals to Tom Lancashire and Sam Miskimmin secured Hutt’s bonus point.

At Clareville, Dalefield men’s team were made to work hard for their 3-1 win over Northern United. The sides had drawn their first round match, but Dalefield had the edge this time after Benedict van Woerkom had put them 1-0 up by halftime.

Indians made it two wins out of two in a week over Victoria, coming from a goal down to prevail 2-1 in an entertaining encounter. In a catch-up game played earlier in the week Indians had led 5-1 before hanging on to win 6-5, with the rematch a lot tighter.

Jack Burgess put the students ahead after just 10 minutes although Hiran Mani cancelled their advantage shortly afterwards. Aqshai Lala’s third quarter strike gave his side the victory as the teams shared possession but neither were able to gain a single penalty corner.

The battle between the bottom two sides ended in a scoreless stalemate as neither Karori nor Naenae were able to get the ball in the net. Naenae had won 5-3 when the sides met in April, but this time tight defence won the day, with Karori gaining their first point of the season.

Kapiti’s women trounced Indians 5-0 to score their biggest win in premier hockey.

With both teams missing key players Kapiti started the stronger and were three up at the break. Indians played more constructively as the game went on but Lucy Townend scored twice, and Kapiti were able to pick up a bonus point in their best performance of the season.

Eastern Hutt got their noses in front of Victoria in the first quarter of their game and then held on for a 2-0 win.

Kat O’Callaghan with two trademark field goals was the only scorer while Georgia Garden-Bachop and Sophie Rider were others to play well for Eastern. Caitlin Proctor and Tegan Porter featured for the students.

Seven goals to the Anderson sisters, Jenna and Kristy, was a feature of Dalefield’s 10-0 win over Toa.

The home side dominated, scoring five goals in each half, which takes them ahead of Harbour City, although Harbour have one game in hand.