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Photos Oona Venermo
York women’s 1sts hockey side gave a great performance as they scored a important but tense victory against Lancaster in their winning 1-0 , continuing UYHC’s fantastic Roses tournament.
After the indoor matches on Friday afternoon the girls looked strong and kept their calm despite a strong Lancaster battle.
The opening minutes for York were promising, with a great run from Katie Penrose securing a corner for York. However the Lancaster players took control, calmly playing there way up the pitch, they took the first shot of the game which went narrowly wide.
With 50/50 play and all players hustling for the ball it was the white roses that started to dominate. After a York corner, the referees conferred and gave a penalty to York and with the chance to score Izi Huctinson stepped up to the mark. Not disappointing a home crowd she shot into the left hand corner and scored, leading to massive cheers from the York supporters on the sidelines.
York continued to dominate the play in the remainder of the first half as they constantly tried their luck against what was proving to be a strong Lancaster defence, but to no avail as the Lancaster defence held firm.
Lancaster came out to the second half looking to equalise, going on the attack early. This concururrently left space for York to exploit, however they failed to capitalise and Lancaster remained in control have a number of decent chances to level, the best of which elicited a great save from York’s GK Laura Porter.
It took a while for York to get going in the second hald, a good chance game Izi Hicthinson with a great run down the line securing a penalty corner. York continued their strong passing play that they demonstrated in the first half with several penalty corners, the Lancaster defence were struggling, constantly relying on their goalkeeper to clear.
With Lancaster now trying to fight back things were tense, even off the pitch, with a Lancaster player being booked. York continued to pobe for the second goal, not letting off the pace. With Vaila Ormiston having a shot which unfortunately went wide and Mineria Saner hustling well causing the Lancaster GK to make a great save yet again.
With the end near and York only one goal up, Lancaster mounted a final attack but a strong York defence dismissed any threat that came there way and they comfortably scored victory. With huge cheers from the sideline and the girls on the pitch it capped off a great Roses for the UYHC girls.
After the game goal scorer and fresher Izi Hutchinson told Vision; ‘It was incredible to be part of the victoriy today and a fantastic way to end my first roses tournament. The game was, as we predicted, tight and fiercely competitive. However, being on home turf, surrounded by an amazing crowd whose support was so valid to us was a clear advantage. It was an experience I will not forget and congratulations to all the other UYHC teams who did a fantastic job over the weekend.”
*Hutchinson, *Minerva.