Hockey heart stoppers
Cementing top position on the ladder with just two rounds to go was the Strikers top priority when the under 16s took on third place St Kilda Power House in Melbourne.
Leandra McLauchlan with a superb tomahawk got the scoreboard ticking over with Regi Brown chipping in with two more to take a 3-0 halftime lead. Some may have been thinking the win was in the bag. It wasn’t. A frustrated Powerhouse came out full of running and bad manners and started chipping away at the lead. A tense final few minutes saw the Strikers push hard one last time before a short corner went centimetres wide and a 3-3 draw was declared.
Strikers under 18s played Southern United at Southern’s home ground last night. Strikers came out and scored a goal for Elliot Stephens within the first minute of the game off a short corner pass from Ariya Mock, but that was the only goal for that half with quite scrappy play.
With a serious talk from the coach at half time, the team came out ready to fight and they truly delivered with a goal from a fantastic second effort for Thea Pozzebon, two great goals from Jordan Oellermann who worked hard to get them in off a short corner and a goal to Ariya Mock who was in perfect position off a cross-field slap from Jordan Oellermann ending the game with a 5-0 win. The teamwork was truly fantastic to witness in the second half with a special mention to Monique Zurrer for always being there as an option to pass to, Hayley Tepper for awesome intensity and Lauren Austen for great defensive work.
Strikers women were keen to take it to sixthplaced ECHO at home on Saturday. Wanting to cement fourth place on the ladder the Strikers got the early jump on ECHO, scoring a magnificent goal as Thea Pozzebon played an aerial ball down into the path of a rampaging Helen Timbury in front of the goal. ECHO struck back in the second term before Strikers scored again in a match that was played at a frenetic pace, the ball moving swiftly from end to end. Despite some last quarter desperation neither team could break the deadlock and the game finished at 2-2, a fitting result for a hard fought match.
Local results:
Under 12s
Drouids (1) defeated Aztecs (0). Goal scorers Drouids: Flynn Furphy.
Gulls (5) defeated Warriors (1). Goal scorers Gulls: Olivia Camier with two, Caleb Ballantyne, Liam Finger and Jacob Mock with one each.
Goal scorers Warriors: Dylan Bradshaw.
Under 15s
Drouids (6) defeated Gulls (2). Goal Scorers Drouids: Ben Schellekans, Harry coster and Hamish Zurrer with two each. Goal scorers Gulls: Will Smith two.
Under 18s
Gulls (4) defeated Warriors (2). Goal scorers Gulls: Will Smith (2), Elliott Stephens and Hayley Tepper one each. Goal scorers Warriors: Jordan Oellermann with two.
Women
Gulls (7) defeated Warriors (1). Goal scorers Gulls: Laura James, Katie Tucker and Taylor Woods with two each. Ruth Tucker with one. Goal scorers Warriors: Isabella Di Grazia.
Drouids (4) defeated Aztecs (2). Goal scorers Drouids: Savannah Nucara three, Ariya Mock one. Goal Scorers Aztecs: Lauren Austen two.
Men
Warriors (8) defeated Gulls (2). Goal scorers Warriors: Stuart Tansey with two, Hamish Zurrer, James Zurrer, Aaron Saltmarsh-Milne, Simon Nelson Monique Zurrer and James Bellfield all with one each. Goal scorers Gulls: Mathew Sciortino with two.
Drouids (10) defeated Aztecs (3). Goal scorers Drouids: Mathew Zurrer scored six, Alex Zurrer two, Simoin Nelson one, Callan Wallace one. Goal scorers Aztecs: Charlie Coster with two, Jordan Oellermann one.