What a Sunday it was!
First up the Vikings women team.
The team was almost attending with the complete squad and hyped, only Paris was absent for the game.
The game started with both teams blazing and going neck on neck (2:2, 4:4), until the Spartanz got the upper hand and build a little lead (4:7, 6:9). Later in the first half, the Viking girls were shocked by a serious knee injury of Amelie – we all hope she will be already soon and recover quickly. After that shock, the team started to refocus and to close down the deficit, goal by goal (8:10, 11:12, 12:12) and even took the lead just before the half time buzzer (13:12).
In the second half the team stayed focused and extended the lead (16:14, 20:15) and never looked back. The final score was 28:24.
All in all, the team showed especially in attack beautiful sequences with the ball flowing fats and finding the right player at the right time.
Thanks to Alex, who was helping again out and is already on her way back to Dunedin for her studies. And also thanks to our #1 fan Ellie.
Vikings HC – Michaela; Maddy 8, Nina 5, Laura 5, Bridget 4, Siri 2, Taye 2, Hannah C 1, Alex 1, Amelie, Malin
Spartanz HC – Megan, Lottie; Paola 8, Jaclyn 6, Erin 4, Emily 2, Sharnay 2, Amelia 1, Francie 1, Ruby
Next game, the Norse were back on schedule playing the Vic Uni Royals.
Unfortunately some players were missing but we also welcomed back Eman, who was absent due to injury since May and he gave his season debut in the Wellington League.
The game started very slow and the Norse made way too many early mistakes and allowed the young Royals team to capitalise on it (4:7). Half way through the first half, the Norse started focusing a bit better and took control of the game (7:8, 12:10). The half time lead (14:11) was looking way better than the start of the game would have suggested.
The second half started like the first half finished and the Norse team played focused and lethal building further on their lead (16:11, 20:13). After building now this comfortable lead the team lost the focus again and the last 12 minutes of the game were just cruising for both teams (24:17, 28:20) and the game finished with a final score of 32:25.
Overall it was a bit disappointing for the Norse that they couldn’t focus for the full game. Though it was good to have Eman back and also Miguel showed great improvements.
Vikings HC Norse – James; Nico 10, Daniel 9, Eman 4, Rakesh 4, Miguel 3, Sam 2
Vic Uni HC Royals – Aleksa; #51 9, #99 4, Sam G 4, Sean F 3, Sahir 2, #38 1, #6 1, Jaxson 1
The last game of the day was between the Vikings Danes team and the Vic Uni Turtles.
The Danes started full steam ahead (3:1, 6:2, 10:4) but then lost a bit the momentum at the later part of the first half. At half time the team was up 15:10 and in the team huddle the coach urged to the team to show more focus and to cut out silly mistakes.
In the second half, the Danes build on the further lead and showed some great fast breaks. Especially Cassius showed great saves in the second half and showed while he was the current Under 21 National team goalkeeper.
At the end, the team won with 34:19. There were some minor things the team could have done better, but all in all we are heading into the hot phase of the season and the team seems prepared and ready for the upcoming tasks.
Vikings HC Danes – Cassius; Luke 8, Alex 6, Harry 5, Jack 4, Todd 4, Riley 4, Paul 2, Angus H 1
Vic Uni HC Turtles – Jerome; Sean F 6, #69 4, Ben 2, Patrick 2, Aleksa 1, Pat 1, Tille 1
Other results:
Women – Victoria University HC vs Hutt Valley Hunters HC 25:20
Men – Spartanz HCvs Northern Aguilas HC 16:34
(note: Vic Uni Wolves– men – had a bye)