The Metro 2 Women took on top of the ladder Echo on Saturday who previously had inflicted our worst defeat  4/1 earlier in the year. Echo play a really good, hard & fast brand of hockey and have only lost two games for the year, so we knew we were in for a hard match. Our team list changed about 4 times on the morning of the game as we were notified that various people couldn’t make it but we still started the game with two subs thanks to Phoebe playing & Nicolette organizing people in the background.

We started off really well and for the first 10 minutes had most of the play in our attacking 25 but couldn’t get that elusive goal. There would have been 6-8 chances missed in those 10 minutes where ball after ball was struck crisply into the circle but no-one had a stick ready for a deflection or intercept & Echo’s goalie kept a couple of other direct shots out. Nicole was doing her usual stellar work in the middle giving our forwards repeated chances on goal & Nikki’s crosses were getting through the defence almost every time, but although we kept trying we couldn’t make it happen. Echo got a couple of breaks and looked like scoring but Jenny & Corrinne did a super job keeping them out along with Nicole, Laura & Coxy getting back to help. Phoebe was providing great support to the forwards & despite having the flu Lou was getting involved up & back as well. It was Lou who finally scored our first goal & the team went straight back into attack but it wasn’t too long before Echo managed to get one back on us to draw level at 1 all.

Hannah was doing a terrific job as right half & despite Lou, Coxy & Loren all not feeling too well we managed to keep attacking the Echo goal but we couldn’t get one into the back of the net. Freya was doing a good job on the left wing & a very impressive attempt on a  tomahawk from Nicole that went a bit high was just another one that got away from us, as I would guess all up we would have had 15 or so shots that either just went past a stick or just missed the post. Echo had their chances too and a sinking feeling crept in when they were awarded a short corner with only a few minutes left, however our defence stood up & kept them out again with the game finishing a 1/1 draw. The games we have played in the last couple of weeks against the two teams who were above us on the ladder were played in exactly the right spirit with all teams playing hard, fair & fast flowing hockey that allowed the teams to show their skills & great attitude to the game. Well done Southern on a great effort for the whole 70 minutes, it gives us confidence coming into the finals knowing that we can play like that.