The Junior 1st hockey team played their first home match of the term, against RHS. The girls started very well and quickly dominated. As early as the third minute a fabulous bit of team play put Woodbridge ahead: Ada transferred to Isabel, wide to Steph at the right midfield, back to Maddy at in the middle, two touched and into D, where Libbie had the perfect first touch, second touch into the goal. A dream start for Woodbridge! As the game progressed RHS built more pressure and Ruby had to make telling saves. Lexie was aggressive in her marking when she went on at centre midfield and gave Woodbridge more control again, not allowing RHS’s key player to dominate any more. With time running out in the half RHS won a series of corners, and as the final whistle went the ball scuttled over our line to make it 1-1 at half time.
It all made for an even more determined start to the second half. The girls would not be defeated. In the second minute good play by Maddy and Georgina opened up space for Libbie to run into the D and score into the far corner: a very well taken scoring opportunity, with Steph on hand to just to make sure it went in. And then Woodbridge scored a third halfway through the second half. This time it was Maddy with a great strike from the right hand shoulder of the D. It was heading on target and Steph made sure with a final touch at the far corner. But Woodbridge had to dig deep to maintain the advantage as RHS kept pushing, getting circle entries and threatening the goal. The defence held strong and the attackers worked very hard to assist and counterattack. The final whistle went, bringing relief and joy to a squad of players who gave their all and deserved the good result. The player of the match was again tough to decide with many vying for the honour: this time it was congratulations to Libbie!
