Now the Wellington League goes into the final weeks and today’s results have set the (semi) final tables.
In the last pool rounds today, the results of the Vikings teams didn’t matter that much as last weeks games had solidified those table positions already and so the games were played in very good spirit with each team trying to work on team play and gaining some confidence.
The Vikings women faced the Vic Uni Ravens, who are also the current team to beat in Wellington.
The game started not very well for the Vikings girls, with rushed and bad shots on attack, and sub-par defense we quickly saw us behind (1:5, 2:8, 4:12). Mid-way through the first half we finally found some rhythm and forced some turnovers that led to easy fasbreaks (8:13, 10:13). Though in the last two minutes of the first half we struggled again and the Ravens went with a 10:16 lead into half time.
The second half started like the first started and the Ravens were able to build their lead further (10:18, 11:22). This pretty much sealed the game and the last 15 minutes were all about getting back to playing good team handball. The end result was 20:32.
Congrats to the Vic Uni Ravens, leading the table now at the end of the Pool rounds and going into the Final rounds as main favourite.
Vikings HC – Michaela; Laura 6, Nina 5, Lisa 4, Maddy 3, Bridget 1, Paris 1, Siri, Taye, Malin
Vic Uni HC Ravens – Chrissy; Maddie 10, Ida 7, Sam 5, Maja 4, Hanne 3, Meli 2, Mon 1, Kathleen
The Vikings Danes were scheduled to play the Northern Aguilas, the currently unbeaten leader at the table and it was a good very good game.
The Vikings decided to move up some players of the Norse team and were able to show real strength by playing some very team Handball in the majority of the game.
The team started well of and though the game went head to head, score by score (4:4, 7:7, 9:9), the sense was the Vikings had a bit more depth then the Aguilas. Short before half time the Vikings were going up by two (12:10) and seemed to get now the upper-hand but the Aguilas finished the half strong and the final half time result was 13:12.
In the second half the game was pretty much the same, with both teams going neck to neck (16:16, 19:19). But then the Danes had a bit of a tumble with just 10 minutes to go, some sloppy defense and some rushed shots allowed the Aguilas to build a small lead (20:22, 21:24) from which the Danes didn’t recover in time. The final result was 24:28.
Well done to both teams showing a great game of Handball in very fair spirits and also thanks to the refereeing which was probably one of the better referee performances this year.
As this game’s result had literally no impact on the table and so no impact on the potential semi-final setting, both teams can agree that it was a good opportunity to prepare for the NZHF Club Champs (next weekend, 15-17 September) against high quality opposition.
Vikings HC Danes – Cass; Daniel 6, Alex 5, Nico 3, Luke 3, Todd 3, Miguel 2, Jack 1, Paul 1, Riley, Michael
Northern Aguilas HC – Yoshi; Tim 10, James P 7, Nick 4, Oscar 2, Matt 2, Jono 1, Max 1, Aaron 1, Tyler, Cam
The last game of the day was played between the Vikings Norse and the Vic Uni Wolves.
In short, the Norse showed off some good team handball and the Wolves showed their consistent improvement but the experience of the Norse team pulled through – 44:26 (20:15).
Vikings HC Norse – Cass; Jack 10, Paul 10, Miguel 9, Rakesh 6, Daniel 4, Alex 3, Michael 2, Angus S
Vic Uni HC Wolves – HeHan; Daniel M 8, Pat 6, Tile 6, Thomas 4, Alex 1, Patrick 1
Other results:
Women – Spartanz HC vs Hutt Valley Hunters HC 19:25
Men – Spartanz HC vs Vic Uni HC Turtles 24:34
(note: Vic Uni Royals– men – had a bye)