WANGARATTA Dragons Hockey Club celebrate their 118th birthday this Saturday at their Cathedral College base. The day is the club's biggest event of the year and will feature an Under 7s and Under 10s carnival, jumping castle, inflatable hockey, bake sale, and a barbecue with everyone invited. Sunday will see some senior action, with the Division two men, Division three men and Division three women taking to the field. Dragons president Daniel Warner said their players are gearing up for an exciting weekend. "Cathedral College is marking out a second hockey field on the football oval to accommodate for the event," he said. "You won't want to miss this weekend's games and birthday celebrations." Division three men On another glorious Saturday afternoon out at Cathederal College the division three men took on the top of the ladder Magpies. With many of the team's players and the playing dads away at the state under 18 championships the full squad wasn’t able to attend. The club took the opportunity to encourage some of the younger players to step up and test themselves against a strong team. In the first quarter the Maggies jumped out of the box scoring quickly and early. After the short break the backline was beginning to isolate the dangers players with youngster Atticus Thomson applying youthful tenacity in clearing the ball many times. After half-time the backline was still seeing the lions' share of work with Cameron Gillies and David McIntyre saving the team's bacon many times. In the goalie kit coach Michael McMurrie was throwing more moves than a TikTok clip keeping the ball out. When the ball was cleared into the centre Tim Longman and Hamish Kerr were creating their regular brand of midfield mayhem with the help this week of Thomas Wright. The team's experienced players steadied the play in the last half but with weary legs and a depleted bench opportunities to score were scarce. After the final siren the team was buoyed by the abilities of the young players and the bright future this club has. Division 3 Women The Wangaratta Dragon ladies had a few new entrants to the team with Pip Murray and Caitlyn Barden playing their first Division 3 games for the season. The Dragons had a lot of strong attack for much of the game with many penalty corners and field shots that just weren’t making it into the goals. Magpies did an amazing job holding off all shots on goal until the last quarter with Jamie-Lee Sexton sneaking a shot into the net after a beautiful deflection pass from Kate Riley in a penalty corner. A tough win for the ladies with the Magpies making them work hard for the points this round. Wangaratta 1 – Magpies 0 Under 16 girls The United Wangaratta and Corowa team, ably led by captain Sophie Shallue, took on the in-form Scots team on a very wet Friday night in Albury. The game was an even game with both teams creating lots of opportunities to score. However, Scots were able to capitalise on the scoreboard early on and went on to take the lead going into the final quarter. But with some spirited play, strong passing, impeccable defence and relentless attacks on goal, the United team fought back to demand a five all draw. Under 12 girls The under-12 girls faced off against the top-ranked and formidable Corowa United on Saturday. Aware that they would encounter tough competition, the girls set their focus on intent and execution of some key skills of the game. With their usual goalkeeper unavailable, Teale Moffat stepped in for her debut as goalkeeper and made an impressive number of saves. Corowa dominated most of the attacking play during the first three quarters, establishing an unbeatable lead on the scoreboard. However, to the Dragons' credit, they never gave up and truly excelled in the last quarter. Each and every player put maximum effort into the game and all should be so proud of themselves. Some highlights of the game were Pippa Reilly's relentless running and hassling while her big sister Amelie Reilly mastered some great tackles, switch of play effectively through Ava Ryan and Maddy Benton and outstanding defensive efforts from Georgia Sessions, Eliza Taylor and Zara Hamilton. In the end, the Dragons left the field with smiles on their faces, despite the final score of 8-0. Coaches award went to Teale Moffat. Division 2 fixture has been deferred to Wednesday night with a number of players from both teams at the Under 18s state champs. The Under 16 boys and Under 14 boys also had byes.
