Hockey
16 July, 2024
Rangers win first game in over a year
The ninth round of the Wimmera hockey season was played at Nhill’s Davis Park on Saturday, and although most games finished with predictable results, plenty of intrigue remains in the scenarios this has created for the remaining six rounds before the finals.
The status quo in the Open competition was challenged when the Nhill Rangers scored their first win in just over twelve months by defeating the second-placed Warrack Hoops by one goal, and in the other match in this division, the Yanac Tigers scored a comfortable win over the Horsham Hurricanes, to record their fiftieth consecutive match without a loss.
Rangers v Hoops
The big result from the round was the Nhill Rangers' one-goal win over the Warrack Hoops.
Having struggled for several seasons with limited player numbers and rarely able to get their best eleven on the pitch at the same time for an extended run, the Rangers have not delivered the results they would have liked to, but they savoured Saturday’s result.
The Warrack Hoops, aiming to solidify their second place on the ladder, began the match with a strong performance. They controlled a majority of the play in the first quarter, earning three penalty corners while denying the Rangers any, but were unable to convert these opportunities into goals.
Early in the second quarter, Deegan Clark scored a field goal for the Rangers, only their second for the season, against the flow of play to put his team ahead by halftime.
The pressure was now squarely on the Hoops ramped up their attack, earning thirteen penalty corners, but the Rangers, not needing to score themselves to secure a favourable outcome, focused on a solid defensive strategy of simply clearing the ball from the Hoops' attacking quarter without the pressure of having to develop these clearances into strong attacking moves.
With the final whistle, applause erupted around the whole venue, with even those watching the match on the second field keeping an eye on the Rangers’ progress and acknowledging the significance of their achievement.
Brett Tishler, Jason Reichelt, and Jiah Clark dominated the midfield for the victors, and Tim
Jorgensen, Oskar Bennett, and Sandon Schultz played well for the Hoops.
Tigers v Hurricanes
The Yanac Tigers celebrated their fiftieth consecutive match without a loss by defeating the Horsham Hurricanes by seven goals. It was on this same field back in August 2019 that they suffered their most recent defeat, by a goal to the Warrack Hoops in a semi-final.
Since then, they have overcome all challenges, with the only blemish on their record in that time being four drawn matches. A glimmer of hope for their opponents that their dominance might we waning is that three of those ties have been this year, but the challenge remains - who will be the next to beat them?
The Tigers earned the advantage by halftime after a competitive and controlled first half, courtesy of a Rourkey Croot conversion from a penalty corner in the first quarter and a Shaun Alexander field goal in the second.
After the break, the Tigers kept up the pressure and increased their lead by another five goals before the final whistle, but despite the margin, it was an exciting and entertaining match to watch, and the result did not reflect the competitive play on the field.
Croot, Alexander, and Raine Mackley all finished with two goals each, and Josh Cramer scored the other. Maddy Spano, Charles Hassall, and Will Gulline were the standout players for the Hurricanes.
Neither of these results changed any positions on the ladder, but Nhill has proven that they remain a threat for a place in the finals, the Hurricanes remain vulnerable to dropping out of the top four, and the Hoops still have some work to do if they are to retain their grip on second place.
WOMEN
All three results across the Women’s competitions reflected ladder positions, but this did not mean the games were not competitive.
Kaniva v Roos
The Dimboola Roos have shown this year that they can challenge the leading teams, but their combination of seasoned players and enthusiastic beginners was missing a few key individuals on Saturday, and they finished with a narrow loss to Kaniva.
Kaniva had many options from a full complement of five interchange players and set up the win with field goals from Imogen Williams and Zoey Smith in the first quarter and one by Holly Beattie in the second quarter.
Thirteen penalty corners to two suggest that Kaniva dominated the play, but after their three goals in the first twenty minutes of the game, the Roos rallied and repelled all further attempts to score, weathering a particularly intense final quarter where Kaniva earned eight of their penalty corners, all of which Dimboola successfully defended.
The balance of the play swung slightly in Dimboola’s favour in the last five minutes when they earned two penalty corners, but it was too late for them to change the result.
Imogen Williams, Lisa Stimson, and Sigourney Williams stood out from Kaniva, while the Roos’ reliable defenders Jennie Hauselberger, Naomi Kuhnell and Cara Hadzig combined to foil many of Kaniva’s scoring attempts.
Yanac v Jets
Yanac remains on top of the ladder after a two goal win over the Horsham Jets in a relatively even match. Although the Jets won the last encounter between these two, they were missing all their goal-scorers from that match, which significantly reduced their attacking options.
While the match was even through the midfield, Yanac made the most of their opportunities in attack, with regular scorers Erin Alexander and Lexi Farmers adding one goal each to their season tallies.
Alexander, Mikayla Mackley, and Susan Hedt were among Yanac’s best, and Maddy Spano, Launa Schilling, and Annabelle Heal fought hard across the Jets’ midfield.
Thunderbirds v Warracknabeal
The Nhill Thunderbirds signalled that they are still in the race for the finals with a solid victory over Warracknabeal. Kendra Clark contributed four goals and was named the Birds' best, along with Cally Shurdington, Jessica Rowe, and Susan Rowe.
Despite the loss, Warracknabeal earned the distinction of being the only defeated team for the round to have scored, when Natasha Kuchel scored only the team’s third goal for the season late in the second quarter. Sam Williamson, Lexi Farmers (on loan for the game from Yanac), and Michelle Nuske joined Kuchel as their best players.
With this result, the fifth-placed Thunderbirds are now just one win away from entering the top four, helped by the Jets’ loss, while Kaniva’s win has kept them just two points behind Yanac in second place.
Under 16s
This round saw the leading three Under 16 teams all record victories, widening the gap between them and the lower three teams. As in the Women’s competition, Yanac and Kaniva also sit in the top two positions on the Under 16s ladder, and like their senior counterparts, they are only separated by two points. Six points further back is the Nhill Leopards, who still have time to pressure the top two, and the Horsham Bombers are sitting in fourth place, ten points behind third and ten points ahead of fifth but will still need a few more wins to ensure they remain there.
On Saturday, the Yanac Warriors defeated the Horsham Bombers, the Kaniva Raiders overcame the Dimboola Kangaroos, and the Leopards defeated the Warrack Revengers.
Barrett Clark was the leading goal scorer for the round, with three of the Leopards’ five goals, while Archie Zanker and Sean Pedie for the Warriors, and Charlie White and Logan Krelle for the Raiders all scored two goals each.
Wimmera Hockey Association - Round Nine Results
- Open -
Nhill Rangers 1 (Goal - D Clark; Best - B Tischler, J Reichelt, J Clark) defeated
Warracknabeal Hoops 0 (Best - T Jorgensen, O Bennett, S Schultz)
Yanac Tigers 7 (Goals - R Croot 2, S Alexander 2, R Mackley 2, J Cramer; Best - S
Alexander, R Croot, J Cramer) defeated Horsham Hurricanes 0 (Best - M Spano, C Hassall,
W Gulline)
Pts GD
Yanac Tigers 28 28
Warrack Hoops 22 8
Kaniva Cobras 18 -3
Horsham Hurricanes 14 -10
Nhill Rangers 8 -23
- Women -
Kaniva 3 (Goals - H Beattie, I Williams, Z Smith; Best - I Williams, L Stimson, S Williams)
defeated Dimboola Roos 0 (Best - J Hauselberger, N Kuhnell, C Hadzig)
Nhill Thunderbirds 11 (Goals - K Clark 4, S Rowe 2, R Clark 2, C Shurdington 2, J Rowe;
Best - K Clark, C Shurdington, J Rowe, S Rowe) defeated Warracknabeal 1 (Goal - N
Kuhnell; Best - S Williamson, A Farmers, M Nuske, N Kuchel)
Yanac 2 (Goals - E Alexander, A Farmers; Best - E Alexander, M Mackley, S Hedt) defeated
Horsham Jets 0 (Best - M Spano, L Schilling, A Heal)
Pts GD
Yanac Women 28 35
Kaniva Women 26 23
Dimboola Roos 22 5
Horsham Jets 18 1
Nhill Thunderbirds 14 4
Warrack Women 0 -68
- Under 16 -
Kaniva Raiders 4 (Goals - C White 2, L Krelle 2; Best - F Dodson, R Williams, J Beattie)
defeated Dimboola Kangaroos 0 (Best - J Ward, V Ward, R Williams)
Nhill Leopards 5 (Goals - B Clark 3, D Clark, D Bee; Best - D Clark, B Clark, O Bone)
defeated Warracknabeal Revengers 0 (Best - E Williamson, C Peters, M Bentley)
Yanac Warriors 6 (Goals - Archie Zanker 2, S Pedie 2, Asher Zanker, S Farmers; Best -
Asher Zanker, S Pedie, L Cramer, I Hedt, T Rethus) defeated Horsham Bombers 0 (Best - C
Blake, B Cannell, K Besselaar, A Jochinke)
Pts GD
Yanac Warriors 32 36
Kaniva Raiders 30 41
Nhill Leopards 24 22
Horsham Bombers 14 -19
Dimboola Kangaroos 4 -38
Warrack Revengers 4 -42
- Under 12 Development Program -
Kaniva Rampagers 2 (Goals - A Curtis, A Beattie) v. Dimboola Kookaburras 2 (Goals - R
Wallace, A Nichols)
Warracknabeal Avengers 2 (Goals - B Clark 2) v. Nhill Bandits 6 (Goals - J Bee 2, D Bee 2,
A Albrecht, H Albrecht)
Yanac Lowan Stars 1 (Goal - A Cramer) v. Horsham Black Hawks 3 (Goals - L Rose 2, L
Hobbs)