Men
On Sunday, the Vikings have faced the Vic Uni Handball Club for their second game of the season.
Over the last 3 weeks the team had build really good confidence training and everyone was looking forward to the game. Unfortunately our first goalie James had to cancel due sickness and therefore the team had to rely on young Sam Gallagher.
The Vikings started the game very well and seemed always in control and maintained a lead throughout the vast majority of the game. The attack seemed majorly improved and the defense was well organised and forced a few turnovers of the opposing team. The team had three substitutes and that allowed the coach to keep everyone fresh and also playing with full intensity.
The Halftime score (13:12) was necessarily a true reflection of the game, as the Vikings seem clearly in charge of the game.

At the beginning of the second half the Vikings finally build up a lead (18:14) which should have brought some more composure and security but some bad shooting (and good goalkeeping from the Vic Uni keeper) kept Vic Uni in the game and suddenly they were able to equalize the score at 20:20. After a timeout of the Vikings the team re-focused and were able to strike back (22:20) and then finished the game especially with some strong defensive plays. The final score 26:23.

Vikings:
Sam G; Tim R (7), Daniel M (5), Jack G (1), Josh P (1), Jun B (3/1), Luke I (3), Pierre T, Nico P (2), Fabien (4)

Next game: Sunday (15/6/2014) at 3:30pm at ASB Stadium versus Hutt Hawks HC

Women
Finally the season opener for the Vikings women team playing versus the Spartanz.
The game quite evenly (3:3) but then the more experienced players of the Spartanz were able to build a lead (3:12) with 9 unanswered goals. The Vikings Girls had plenty of chances but struggled with their shot accuracy and on the other side the Spartanz Girls showed all their experience by shooting very accurate in the corners. In the half time (5:13), Coach Daniel reminded the team to stay focused on defence and to throw more accurate to give ourselfs a better chance. While the defense improved for the majority of the second half the attack still struggled especially with shooting.
At the end the Vikings women lost 12:24, which is acceptable seeing the Spartanz with a full squad and plenty of experience in compare to the Vikings who had (just) 7 players. With a better shooting efficiency we should ahve scored at least 5-7 more goals which should have kept us close enough to might have a last run at the end to win the game.

The only thing to improve from here is training together which will help our shooting and our team work.

Vikings:
Maddy H; Laura A (1), Alex M (3), Maddie W, Ellie B (3), Hannah D, Catherine G (5)

Next Game: Sunday (15/6/2014) at 2:15pm at ASB Stadium versus Vic Uni HC