Everybody hurts, sometimes.
Werribee coach Les McAlinden reckons it might not be a bad thing for his team to experience a bit of pain in the Hockey Victoria women’s Vic League 2.
The Tigers saw their unblemished record fall on Saturday, losing for the first time in 10 matches to Monash University 1-0 on the road at the Monash Hockey Pavilion.
“I asked the girls when they were listening to them singing the song, how do you feel?” McAlinden said.
“I said, it’s good you’re feeling bad at the moment, because it’s a feeling that we don’t want to have again.
“I want to make sure they feel that pain now and not in the finals.
“It’s going to make us hungrier now, not to just go into the rest of the season thinking this is easy.”
It would have been easy for Werribee players to get slightly ahead of themselves. The Tigers went into the top of the ladder clash with Monash holding a 9-0 record and a goal difference of plus-50.
Their attack was top ranked with 56 goals and their defence had only conceded four before Saturday.
It was just one of those weeks for Werribee.
The Tigers lost striker Sue Jones to a broken nose during the week.
On game day, an accident on the West Gate Freeway meant a number of players almost missed the start of the game.
“We were all saying, ‘where’s all the girls’, and we rang them and they said they were stuck in traffic,” McAlinden said. “The preparation just wasn’t good for us.
“We were too stressed, they rushed to get to the ground and just ran on. The emotion was still going and they weren’t settled.”
Monash got its winner through Emma Lightbody late in the second half.
It took a short corner special for Monash to break through the defences of Tigers’ goalkeeper Rachel Catania, who was dominant.
“She’s having an outstanding year,” McAlinden said.
Holly Stewart was Werribee’s most dominant player and was praised for her leadership on a tough day.
Werribee remains in first place on goal difference.
The Tigers will host ECHO at the Werribee Hockey Centre on Saturday.
In men’s Vic League 2, Werribee leapt up two spots to sixth and back into the finals race with a 1-0 win over Bayside at Brighton Secondary College.
Peter Nalder scored the decisive goal for the Tigers in the first half.
Werribee will meet Knox on neutral territory at the State Netball and Hockey Centre in a Saturday twilight game.
