Mixed fortunes for college girls

THE College 1st XI travelled to Belfast on Saturday where they faced Victoria College on the new surface at Queens.

Lurgan started well, dictating the pace of the opening exchanges and forcing Victoria to defend furiously for the first fifteen minutes.

It was during this spell that the first goal was scored through Serena Barr following a penalty corner move.

A second followed quite soon afterwards when from another penalty corner Hannah Grieve pounced on a rebound initially saved by the Victoria keeper, and blasted it just inside the post.

To their credit Victoria College fought back hard and crept into the game when Lurgan began to ease off the pressure. They had a number of athletic players who managed to bypass the Lurgan forward line and travel towards the Lurgan defensive 25 area, but the experience of the Lurgan backline was able to cope with such counter attacks and intercept any danger.

In fact Catherine Bell in nets was only called upon once to defend her goal.

Lurgan managed to squeeze a third past a busy Victoria keeper when Natalie Barr rifled the ball home following good build up play between Lurgan midfield and forwards.

2nd XI 0 Victoria College 1

This was a game that seemed destined to remain scoreless as most of the play was contained in the midfield area between both sides. However, the College 2nds lacked the discipline to hold their shape, and in doing so played into the hands of their experienced opposition. Victoria College repeatedly drove down the right, forcing Lurgan to defend their non-stick side, and when possession was regained, Lurgan favoured attacking on the left, making it more difficult to get the ball forward with any real success.

As a result Victoria College peppered the Lurgan goals with shots and if Suzi Horan had not been in outstanding form the scoreline would have been much greater. After half time the College girls showed more discipline and the ball began to come out right, facilitating some lovely attacking play from Lurgan. Aimee Williamson was unlucky not to score after two fine flicks were saved by an in form Victoria keeper. Lurgan, however, left it too late to play the hockey they are capable of and the score remained 1-0 to Victoria.

3rd XI 0 - Victoria College 4

In their first outing the young and inexperienced 3rd XI faced an older and much wiser Victoria College side. Despite the difference in scoreline, this young team showed some promise as they defended their circle with fierce determination. Lauren Watson in goals was particularly impressive in leading by example, as was Ashley Gibson who tried to hold the ball up front for Lurgan when the College team had possession. With continued hard work in training this team will show more improvement, and further matches to test their progression will be eagerly anticipated.