Sutho’s first-ever Sydney Women’s Hockey League team has finished its initial season as undefeated minor premiers as it heads into next weekend’s final series.
In oven-like conditions at Sydney Olympic Park at Homebush on Sunday our girls and second-placed Mosman Harbour battled out a 0-0 draw.
They’re back at Homebush next Sunday afternoon for the major semi. Match time is 3.30 pm. Go Sutho girls!
Over to Ashton for her report of last weekend’s game:
It was a scorcher of a day at SOP for the undefeated SWHL ladies who had their final round-robin game against Mosman Harbour. We knew this would be a hard game as Mosman was placed second on the ladder
From the coaches talk prior to the game as a team we knew we needed to maintain our possession, stick to the basics of hockey, transfer and to take free hits quickly to get some positive outcomes.
In the first half, we were hungry and passed the ball stick-t- stick and were able to get around the opposition and obtain a few short corners. But we could not convert.
During the second half, the heat started to tire us and we dropped our game. This saw Mosman obtain a few short corners, but Sutho’s defence held beautifully.
In the 4th quarter, we felt the scoreboard pressure and tried to step it back up. This gave us a final short corner a few minutes before the end of the game. We mixed our tactics and had Amelia on our R2 deflection, but this, unfortunately, hit the post and the game finished 0-0.
We are ready to train hard this week as we prep for our semi-final on Sunday.
It is an amazing achievement for our ladies to have come this far as minor premiership winners for the first time in ML6!!
Best and fairest: 3 Paris, 2 Ashton, 1 Camille.
Pictures: Luke Domrow
Men
Unfortunately, we have had a very poor response this week with match reports from most of our senior teams. But thank you to our SWHL, 2nd-grade women’s and 1st-, 4th -and 8th-grade men’s teams for their support. And our photo contributors – wonderful as usual!
Sutho 1st grade 8 Briars 3
Our last home game for 2020 was played in brilliant sunshine, another great day for hockey. It took us by surprise when Briars started off strongly and were rewarded with the first goal of the match. This woke the team up and got them performing near the level they should.
We levelled up soon after, but we should have been able to keep a clean sheet for the rest of the game. Once again the younger brigade performed reasonably well but need to really buckle down for the final two games against UNSW and Syd Uni. Both are both in the top 6 and vying for semi-finals. The games will be at Daceyville and Lidcombe respectively.
The senior brigade continues to show their high-level skills. They will be passed to the younger boys as they to mature. If we can reproduce the standard we played against Norwest Strikers we can go all the way. Consistency is needed, no matter who we are playing at the time. No doubt there will be a lot of hard work at training to build for a successful attack on the final series.
Best and fairest: Brady Anderson  3, Scott Govers  2, Mitchell Wray  1. Goals: Christian Halyard 2, Brady Anderson 2, Kieran Govers 1, Scott Govers 1, Matt Johnson 1, Matt Bennett 1.
Sutho 2nd grade Briars
Sutho 3rd grade Briars Pictures Tony O’Leary
Sutho 4th grade 5 Northwest Strikers-Baulkham Hills 2
Fourth grade was playing to consolidate a spot in the finals. NWS-BH was the lower team on the ladder, so it was Sutho that would be the team really winning or losing from the game’s result.
During the warmup, concerned onlookers were gawking at the bench as it appeared Quinnie had already sustained a head injury as he was receiving medical attention. His head was heavily bandaged in a way that is more commonly seen on the NRL field after a head collision. It quickly became apparent that this was a ‘functional’ strapping – to keep his hair out of his face.
Quinnie’s uninjury – submitted by his “concerned teammates.” Click on the image to make it even more impressive
The first quarter saw Sutho dominating the play and making good opportunities. The opposing keeper was having a great game and saved many direct shots on goal. We secured the first goal of the match from a short corner which was put away by Jack from the keeper’s deflection.
The quarter-time talk from Brad stressed we play around the keeper, as he was having a cracker. Quick to implement his feedback, Huon showed good control by trapping and calmly back sticking (while on the ground) from a baseline pass across goal.
As time went on, more opportunities presented themselves as more space was found between the opposition players. As ¾ time was called the scoreline was 4-0 with the NWS-BH having had a few scrambling chances.
The final period was highlighted by a particularly impressive overhead from the backline by Will. The overhead was thrown from the 16 to the top of the circle, straight to the centre forward… the fact it was our circle and their centre forward is beside the point.
Two late quarter sloppy goals by NWS-BH were put away as Sutho became complacent, failing to mark and work back.
Points: 3-David ‘Richo’ Richardson, 2-Huon Bollard, 1 Brendon Hol. Goals – Jack Mecham, Jimmy Northwood, Matt Quinlivan, Brendon Hol, Huon Bollard.
Sutho 5th grade
Sutho 6th grade Pictures: Rory Staples
Sutho 7th grade
Sutho 8th grade 3 Manly Gordon North Sydney 3
Eighth grade played exceptionally well on Saturday and scored three good goals, two touching glances off hits into the circle and one nice short corner from Adam Howard.
At one stage we were 3-1 up until their three SL6 players arrived, started to take control and scored two very quick succession short corners. For a team that hasn’t got any points so far this season, we just seemed to be unlucky to catch them when they’ve done some unusually timed recruitment. Not more not much more else I can say.
We now need 13 goals against St George on Saturday and boy are we looking forward to that one.
Best and fairest: 1 point Jordan Wood, 2 Luke Domrow and 3Â Caleb Nieuwendyk. Goals: Jordan Wood, Luke Whittingstall and Adam Howard.
Women
SWHL
Sutho report, above, leads this edition of Sutho Match Reports.
SEHA
Sutho Arangas 1st gradeÂ
Sutho Arangas 2nd grade
A warm spring afternoon saw us playing the second-placed Bentstix for the second time this season. Coming off a tough match last week we knew we needed to work hard, stay driven and play well.
It was a match of quick turnarounds for both teams and despite some great defence, Bentstix managed to get up 2 goals to nil in the first half.
We picked up in the second half, holding a lot more possession. With a combination of strong defence from the entire team, smart passing (including a few switches, something we’ve been working hard on in training!) and quick movement on the ball, we had a few opportunities in the circle – including a few short corners.
But, unfortunately, we just couldn’t convert to get on the scoreboard and the score held at 2-0 at full-time.
Best and fairest: Sofie Cherie 3 points, Hillary Beehag 2 points, Emily White 1 point.
Sutho Arangas 3rd grade
Juniors
Sutho U17 Blue Tongues 5 Glebe 1Â
Wow!! What a game. An awesome effort everyone. You all defended well, tackled well, positioned well and played together as a team.
The skills that you learnt and practised at training paid off with numerous goals being scored. Ben positioned himself well in the attacks and was our first goal scorer of the game. Glebe followed through shortly after and scored their first and only goal for the game. Ben backed up his first goal with a second in the second quarter; great job Ben.
The short passes back and forth between each other and dragging Glebe’s defence further away from their goal meant that we were able to set Jade up to score. She gently tapped the ball over the line and scored our third goal in the third quarter.
Goal number four came from Jonathon who ran the ball up and shot it past the keeper and he then backed it up again with the fifth goal in the last quarter. We nearly got a goal set up for you Claire… the timer beat us to it though.
Nathan had a great game in the mids stopping numerous passes and Lachie showed improving skills on the wings holding his position, passing and receiving balls.
Last time we played Glebe, they had quite a few players missing and the score was a lot closer. In this week’s game, Glebe had a full team and we played even better hockey.
Hope you enjoyed your birthday present from the team James: a big scoring WIN!!!
Best and fairest: 3 points Claire Stegbauer, 2 Ben Taylor, 1 Jade Stegbauer. Goals: Ben 2 Jade 1 Jonathon 2.
Sutho U17 Geckos 3 St George Randwick Dragons 2
It was a different Friday night for the Geckos and one that has never happened all year.  There was no rain, and the Geckos had two reserves. Yes, we had reserves.
The game started at a fast pace with the Geckos scoring an early goal from Adrian with pure speed and brilliance. But St George quickly equalised.
We showed good attacking skills and our defence was holding, even though we continued to play up the centre when the coach was calling for width.
Each team scored again and the contest was in the balance.
Both Zacs, Charles and Blake were solid in defence and Sean will remember the word width for a long time to come.
The second half of the game was no different, with both teams pressing the opposition’s goal. Ryan, you were amazing in goals tonight, saving numerous goals and keeping the team in the game.
Raina positioned herself near the goalie and was able to score from a crossing ball to put the Geckos in front.
Now was time to defend our lead as there were only 4 minutes to go. St George was pressing our goal, but we managed to keep them at bay.
Thanks to Jacob from U15s for playing tonight; you showed great skill and determination in defence and never gave up.
Geckos we have one game to go, so let’s show St George we have grown as a team over this short, disrupted season.
Best and fairest: 3 points Ryan, 2 Raina and 1 Charles. Goals: Adrian 2 Raina 1.
Sutho U15 Metro Pictures Rory Staples
Sutho U15A Geckos 1 UNSW 3
We were unlucky to not at least draw the game this week against UNSW, after having them on the ropes at half time with a 1-0 lead. Plenty of fast hard hockey this week meant that we had them running all over the field.
From our game’s start, we sustained a solid press with lots of good passing that saw us rip up the pitch in 2 and 3 pass combinations for very promising attacks on the opposition D. One solid goal levelled the scoreboard from UNSW, which seemed to lift their charge to bag one more strange goal and another off a short corner.
The 1st half was definitely ours, and one goal from the other team would have been a better representation of how the general flow of play went, but that’s how it ended up. A greater amount of team play this week, with more constructive talk than we had all season was nice to see.
One more game for this season, so let’s train hard this week and give SGR a run for their money in round 10. Go Sutho!
Best and fairest: 3 Tomas McCowan, 2 Samir Ekermawi, 1 Amelia Domrow, Ryan Mead, Will Newton, Camille Rogerson, Mayah Tait and Isaiah Vassalo. Goals: Ryan Mead.
Sutho U15B Thorny Devils 4 University of NSW 4
A great display of teamwork today continued a strong end to the season.
Working the ball out wide and calling from players running into space created some great opportunities upfront.
We had Indi glued to their best players and our defenders tackling back, we had Josh in goals making plenty of saves and Owen up front supporting the strikers and converting a rebound. Bailey made some clever decisions and used his speed and accuracy to score 3 goals.
Best and fairest: 3 Bailey 2 Ethan 1 Nayah. Goals: Owen 1 Bailey 3.
Sutho U15B Blue Tongues 3 v St George Randwick 4Â Pictures Phil Cullen
The game started hard and fast with both teams turning defence into attack. SGR was relying on their speed to attack but was confronted by a strong Sutho defence.
They did break through to score the first goal of the game, but it wasn’t long before we equalized through a great piece of teamwork that ended with Hayley putting one past the keeper.
With one reserve and a couple of players on the field with injuries, the fast-pace of the game started to catch up with the players and SGR was able to score again and take a 2-1 half time lead.
The second half continued as fast as the first which started to catch up with Sutho and SGR was able to score 2 further goals to take a 4-1 lead. With this, Sutho found something extra and went on the attack, once again through some great teamwork, Liam was able to score.
Going into the final quarter 2 goals behind, Sutho came out with the belief we could get them back and put all the pressure back on SGR.
Through their relentless attack, Sutho was able to get a string of short corners with Nicholas finally putting one into the back of the goals. Being down by only one goal, SGR started to panic and Sutho was ready to get the equalizer, unfortunately, time was against us and the final whistle blew with us going down 3-4.
Full credit to Sutho to the way they fought hard in this game and stepping up to cover those who were injured. As the opposition manager said, “Another 5 minutes and the result could have been different.”
Once again 3 points went to Liv for a fantastic game in goals, 2 points to Megan and 1 point to Nicholas.
Sutho Under 13 Blue Tongues 2 Glebe Redbacks 2
Yet another warm day was the backdrop for a very intense clash between the Blue Tongues and the Glebe Redbacks.
The Redbacks came quick out the starting blocks with a long corner very early on in the game. Luckily our strong defence headed up by Milan prevented them from scoring. The tone of the game was set with two short corners for the Blue Tongues just a few minutes after Glebe’s long corner. Sadly we also didn’t score.
Cooper scored a great goal with 4 minutes to go in the first quarter and two further missed goals for the Blue Tongues before it ended.
We missed two more goals at the start of the second quarter, while the Redbacks responded with nearly scoring two of their own. It was clear that this game was going to be a nail-biter; the Redbacks were definitely more aggressive in this quarter, but the Lukes hit some great hard shots down the line to keep them on their toes.
Both teams were looking very hot and tired at the start of the third quarter. That didn’t stop Sam and Jack from putting up a great defence against the Redbacks as they very nearly scored. An intense battle, with Glebe scoring with 7 minutes to go in the quarter.
The fourth quarter had a lot of stop-start with not much opportunity for the ball to move. Both teams had solid walls of defence.
Cooper’s outstanding stick work, determination and pace netted a goal with just four minutes to go. But our jubilation was shortlived as the Redbacks managed to sneak in a goal with just under two minutes to go. At this stage, the spectators had no nails left to bite as both teams continued to fight neck and neck. There was an audible sigh of relief when the final whistle blew.
A huge thank you to Sam Vagelatos in goals and Luke Erickson for filling in.
Best and fairest: 3 Cooper Holmes, 2 Louis Olsen 1 each to Luke Callaghan, Archie Groundwater, Tully Johnson, Luke Erickson and Milan Stowers. Goals:Â Cooper Holmes 2
Sutho U13B v Bankstown
Sutho 11A Geckos 9 Moorebank u11A 0 Pictures Rory Staples
Our team travelled to Bankstown to play bottom of the table Moorebank.
During the week at training, we talked about playing at a higher tempo and it was pleasing to see the team bring this to the game.
Even better was seeing our training drills of passing wide and around the opposition take effect immediately as we scored a goal in the first minute of play.
Overall we controlled the game well and had minimal shots on goal against us.
Some positives from today were that we marked our players well in defence, we kept the Moorebank goalkeeper very busy all game and took our free hits nice and quickly.
Next week we play UNSW who we will meet in the grand final (the following week) so we have an exciting couple of weeks ahead of us.
Best and fairest: Rowan 3 points, Thomas 2 and Jack H 1. Goals: Nick 3, Rowan 2, Ellie, Tom, Jack H and Ryan 1 goal each.
Sutho 11 B Blue Tongues 5 Glebe 0 Pictures Jody Howson
The U11b Blue Tongues made the early morning journey into Glebe with week for their second last competition round game.
The game started well but really nothing much was happening. The first 20 mins saw much of the play through the centre in a bit of hit and miss hockey.
We were playing on a much smaller quarter size field, which also happened to be grass. That was a bit challenging, so the team had to do a bit of adjusting to their play.
The first goal of the match came from a quick ball from Audrey across the field to Ethan who used his skill to penetrate the circle and pass to Mila who was positioned perfectly to pop the first goal in. The last 5 minutes of the first half saw the team settle, and the game opened up as the team got back to some good hockey.
There were some good passages of play. One was a quick ball from Sophie in the midfield to Mila in the forward line, who passed to Ethan whose shot on goal went wide. Another quick ball saw Ethan take another wide shot on goal. Finally, Ethan did take a shot that went in for the second goal of the game.
Jack had another terrific game in the centre this week, with Audrey also distributing the ball well. The team’s positional play and marking improved this week.
Both Mila and Ethan were strong in the attack; this saw both score goals in the second half. Another quick ball from Sophie to Audrey who found Mila’s stick in the circle and was able to tap it in for the third goal of the game. A long corner ball from Jack found Ethan’s stick, then the back of the net for the fourth goal of the game.
There wasn’t much work to do defensively this week, which meant Alexander had a quiet game. However, he did stay involved in the game by marking Glebe’s very high forward.
Thank you to Lincoln for putting his hand up to play goalie this week. It was very quiet at the back but he did a great job calling out and making sure the backs were watching the high forwards and calling the defence into position. This week’s Best and Fairest points go to Mila, Alexander and Lincoln.
The team learnt another valuable lesson this week: You can’t control the conditions and the type of field you play on, but you adjust your play to suit. This is what the team did in an excellent job this week.
