City claims title after 30 win v Momona
THE City Highlanders lived up to their status as favourites to beat Momona 30 in the Dunedin premier women’s final on Saturday.
When City challenged the Momona goal within the first 30 seconds, goalkeeper Keita Elliot was put through her paces.
City retained possession and continued to apply pressure in the attacking circle.
Momona applied some pressure of its own with some slick passing through the midfield. However, its final connections in the circle were letting the team down.
Some quick counterattacking hockey from Momona meant Angelique Peyroux found herself in a oneonone against City goalkeeper Ginny Wilson.
Peyroux’s shot was well defended by Wilson, denying Momona a chance to take the early lead.
The Highlanders outletting from deep defence was confusing the Momona strikers as they couldn’t seem to stop the dribble.
City continued to push the pace at the back, creating an overload up the righthand side of the field, even though Momona knew what was coming, having played City a week earlier.
Momona had the first attacking penalty corner of the game but Caitlin Blakely held her ground on the post for the Highlanders, denying Nicole Strawbridge.
Annabelle Schneideman drove along the baseline with the ball, looking to strike, but good communication allowed Momona to shut down most of the Highlanders’ opportunities.
That was until the Highlanders got an attacking penalty corner just before the end of the third quarter, and Morgan Forrester deflected the ball into the net for a 10 lead.
From there, the wheels seemed to fall off for Momona, and things that had earlier been working well were no longer clicking.
Momona still had numerous penalty corner opportunities but Wilson had all the bases covered.
And, when they snaffled a turnover in their attacking half, the Highlanders made it 20.
Quick thinking from captain Bayley Anderson set up Sarah Thomas, whose shot was denied by Elliot, but a second attempt from Forrester went into the net.
In a lastditch effort, Momona took its keeper off to attack with more numbers.
That left Momona vulnerable at the back, and when Thomas had another opportunity in front of goal, Elliot was not there to deny her sealing victory for City.