Sport

Hockey

No Hockey this weekend due to the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend.

Junior Hockey

Team Commitment

With the last match of the first half of the season on June 18th, it is timely to speak about team commitment. At the start of the season, the decision was made to run with three Division 4 teams instead of two, to allow for as much game time as possible for all players. The trade off to this decision was we have teams of 12 players. It is vital we field competitive teams in all our fixtures, including those that occur on the first weekend of the College winter holidays. We have already had three occasions this season where Division 4 teams have had to take the field with diminished numbers. Please be mindful of honouring playing commitments, and doing the right thing by the team.

Division 5

College Hurricanes went down to Demons 2-0. The team struggled to get the ball out of their half, but scrambled well when required. Jacob Butcher played strongly for the Hurricanes, and he was ably supported by Hugh Stratmann.

Division 4

College Rebels were beaten by a strong Coleraine Gold team 3-1. Whilst on the back foot for a lot of the match, the team never gave up. Matt Spence played a solid game in goals for the Rebels. He was well supported by Jorja Hermon and Chloe Lyon. The team has come up against some strong opposition in the last few weeks, but is improving with each outing.

College Crusaders had a strong 6-0 win over a young and emerging Dunkeld side. Natalie Featherston scored her maiden goal for College. She played a super match. Ciaran Nelson scored a hat trick of goals playing as a centre forward. Bridget Delany ran hard all match, and was rewarded with a well taken goal. The team was strong across the park.

College Chiefs were very undermanned, and went down to Coleraine Maroon 4-0. The team played the match with 8 players, and had to defend for most of the game.

Mr Stephen Nelson

Division One Women

The Thundersticks have certainly enjoyed a successful first half of the season continuing their unbeaten run on Sunday night. The girls defeated Demons 6-1 in what was at times a fierce and fiery contest. Claudia Roberts was the stand in captain for the night and her leadership was instrumental on the forward line. Mrs Williams, who is now known as Mrs Consistency, scored again and our star fill in Shayleigh Ingelse scored two wonderful goals and was amongst the better players for the match. With the long weekend, followed by a bye and then the school holidays, it will be 5 weeks before the team takes the pitch again. A good chance for the oldies to rest a few sore spots!

Better Players: Claudia Roberts, Hannah Nichols, Shayleigh Ingelse, Charlotte Boyd Walsh and Chloe Russell.

Miss Kristen Waldron

Blades vs Scorchers

The Blades had a great match last Wednesday night after a two week break defeating the College Scorchers 4-1. Early into the first half, the Blades were put under pressure after the Scorchers came out firing with many goal shooting opportunities, but great defence work by Kirrily Jackson, Jemma Swanson, Gretel Nagorcka and our goalie Valentina Merchant kept them from converting. The improvement of the team’s “outletting” meant that they were able to clear the ball from defence and keep most of the play in their attacking half for the remainder of the match. Shayleigh Ingelse played a great match on the forward line, scoring twice and was well supported by Emily Crawford, Nina Pern, Olivia Allen and Grace Austin, who worked well together to create many attacking passages of play and goal scoring opportunities. The girls are improving each week which will hold them in good stead next term in the lead up to finals. Best for Blades were: Shayleigh Ingelse, Gretel Nagorcka, Olivia Allen and Grace Austin

Emily Johnston

Captain of Girls’ Hockey, College Blades Coach

Boys' Hockey

The game between the two Under 16 sides was, as was to be expected, closely fought and the result was in doubt until the final whistle.  Blue began impressively, teaming together to create opportunities going forward and James Sutherland was alert and on the post twice in the first half to put his team 2-0 ahead at half time.  Truth be told, Blue should have been further ahead given the amount of play they controlled. The second half saw a turn-around as Gold began to build pressure.  Jock Adamson showed poise to control the ball and put it into the net before Lachie Holcombe slotted the ball in also, levelling the game at 2-2.  There was a final twist as Blue forced a corner and Sami Zehir's shot went across the line.  So Blue recorded a 3-2 victory in an exciting game.  Reagan Simons, Lachie Holcombe, Harry Beal, Oli Hoskyns and Lachie Armstrong were amongst those to stand out for Gold whilst their counterparts for the winners included Tane Nelson, Ferg Roberts, Sami Zehir, James Sutherland and Charles Cain.

At Open level, the boys played a tremendously controlled, composed and mature game of hockey to record a fine 4-1 victory over Bulls in the top-of-the-table clash.  Tom Bunge was outstanding, finishing with three goals.  Liam McMaugh added the other goal, the reward for lots of running and linking with team-mates.  This really was the ultimate team performance with no one letting down their guard and everyone maintaining concentration until the final whistle.  Captain Josh Nichols and Thomas Verco provided great stability and drive in the midfield; our halves Thomas Dufty, Andrew Robertson and Patrick Stratmann were reliable and shut down our opponents' wings; Nick Lacey, Peter Musson and Will Allen provided certainty and anticipation in defence; Josh Cavill was alert in goals; and Stephen Nelson and David Merrin provided some hard running out wide.  I was very proud of this performance and for the boys’ steadiness and composure.

There are no games this weekend for the Queen's Birthday weekend.  The Open team has the bye next week, at the start of the holidays, but the Under 16 teams each have games on the Saturday morning which commences the holidays.  The Open team travels to Shepparton for the ICCES Tour on Thursday and Friday of next week.  There’s plenty to play for this term still!

Mr Neil MacLean

Possible Hockey Clinic

We have been made aware of the availability of well-regarded Melbourne-based coach Lou Cirello on the weekend of 22-24 July to run clinics.  He is available after school on the Friday, in the evening on Saturday and on Sunday morning.  We understand he is keen to work with goalkeepers but that he can tailor the clinic for any specific needs.  It is likely hockey equipment will be on sale also.

Any College player keen for a clinic to be arranged is asked to let one of us know by lunchtime next Wednesday.  Please advise of preferred time of such a clinic.  We would then seek to make arrangements.

Mr Neil MacLean, Miss Kristen Waldron, Mr Stephen Nelson

Heads of Hockey (Boys', Girls' and Mixed Juniors)