AFTER drawing with the top side and losing narrowly to the second in the previous two weeks, Altona Seagulls had the look of a team building towards victory in Hockey Victoria women’s state league 1 and the match against Waverley brought out their best.
Despite Waverley regaining one of its national league players from European commitments, the Seagulls were warm favourites but needed to put more scoreboard pressure on their opponents after netting just three times in their past two matches.
The Seagulls found scored a 5-2 road win at Ashwood Reserve that returned a smile to the face of coach Marc Richardson.
“After two really pleasing competitive performances where we didn’t get enough scoreboard outcomes for our persistence it was pleasing to score a few goals today,” he said.
“We have another chance against Camberwell in a couple of weeks to score a few more so we are looking to build on a finals dash from here.”
The Seagulls came out firing, peppering away at the net and keeping the Waverley defence on their toes.
It took until the 20-minute mark for their pressure to count on the scoreboard when Canadian international Kate Gillis smashed a tomahawk backhand shot into the bottom corner of the net.
That opened the floodgates for Altona, with former Hockeyroo Dan Schubach and state representative Bronte Kerley dominating in the midfield, setting up co-captain Steph Sarantis and Tegan Purser with plenty of scoring opportunities.
Kerley found Sarantis on the post, who deflected a goal from a penalty corner set play before Emma
Aitken made it 3-0 before half-time.
Dandenong came out refreshed after the break to score twice in 15 minutes.
The Seagulls’ nerves were settled when Gillis smashed the ball across the face to Sarantis, who calmly slotted a fourth insurance goal.
SCORES
Women’s state league 1: Waverley 2 lt Altona 5, Greensborough 1 lt Footscray 5.
Men’s state league 1: Hawthorn 7 d Footscray 1, Waverley 5 d Altona 2.
