Werribee’s stirring 4-2 win over WestVic in the Hockey Victoria women’s Vic League 1 at Prince of Wales Reserve on Saturday was one to savour.
The Tigers went into the match undermanned and their woes were further compounded when forward Sue Jones, who scored the opening two goals, was injured early in the match.
The Tigers unified, producing easily their best team performance of this campaign.
“Sue got cleaned up in the first 10 minutes by their goalie,” Tigers’ captain Jenna Cowlishaw said. “We had just the 11 players, which made it even better to have a win with no bench.
“Our four goals really were all team goals and the forwards just popped them in at the end of the plays.”
Werribee moved up to Hockey Victoria’s second tier at the beginning of this campaign. Some feared the Tigers might drop straight back down, but those fears have been unfounded.
“When we came into the competition at the start of the year, we probably thought we’ll try not to get smashed every week,” Cowlishaw admitted. “We haven’t really got smashed at all, we’ve actually been playing well.”
The past month has been frustrating for Werribee. The Les McAlinden-coached Tigers have played some great hockey, but could not convert that into wins, entering the clash with WestVic on the back of three consecutive draws.
Finally, the Tigers got that sweet taste of victory and it could be a springboard for the rest of their campaign.
“This has got us out of that relegation zone and pushing up more towards to the top half of the ladder,” Cowlishaw said.
Claudia Beamish and Holly Stewart were Werribee’s other scorers on the day. Goalkeeper Rachel Catania produced anoutstanding game.
Werribee will host Monash University at the Werribee Hockey Centre on Saturday.
In men’s Vic League 2, Werribee and MHSOB played out a nil-draw.
