It is hard to believe with Round 7 done and dusted for the juniors, the season is now half over, many of the competitions have now had the teams play each other once, giving a good picture of where everyone stands.

The exciting news for the juniors this round was that the under 14 south and under 12 mixed pennant had their first wins for the season. Great news.

As always a big thanks to all the players that doubled up, or changed plans at the last minute to fill in teams.

At Peninsula Hockey Centre the under 14 girls shield team kept their undefeated run with a 7-1 win against Mornington, half way through the season TEM and Southern are on the same points at the top of the ladder with only goal difference separating them.

Next at PHC the Under 14 south started the night of Southern games, with their first win of the season over Mornington. Great work team. Thanks Shayla, Emily and Ruby for helping out the team – and with the singing of the song.

In the the last game at PHC for the night, the dreaded 9.30 game, Ruben Figueira has taken on the role of goalie for the Under 16 South red and did a great job against 2nd on the ladder Mornington in what was a competitive game, where Mornington only really got away from the Southern team in the last 15 minutes in the 5-1 win to Mornington.

At Dendy St the under 16 girls had another close game, going down 2-1 to Casey with Olivia Pickering scoring the goal. The under 18 team had a strong win, 8-0 this time against Frankston with Hayden Smith scoring 3 and 2 to Miles Deutscher. The under 18 ladder is close with Burra, Mentone and Southern fighting out for the top 3 spots.

The Under 16 South black team played top of the ladder St Bede’s. The team put up a good fight, giving the defenders and goalie the biggest work out they have had this year, going down 5-0. This leaves the four teams on 12 points in position 3 to 6 on the ladder with Black and Red in position 4 and 5.

While at Farm Rd, the under 14 and under 16 mixed shield team played Brumbies. The defence from Brumbies in both games was very impressive. The Southern under 14 mixed shield had most of the play in the second half, but the defence from the Brumbies held tight, and with some impressive attacking Brumbies took the game 4-1. In the 16 mixed shield, once again Southern had all the attack, with a 5-0 win. Thanks to Ewan and Zac for helping out the shield team. Half way through the season the 16 mixed shield are third on the ladder one point behind Waverley, while under 14 mixed shield are fourth.

The last game of the night saw the under 16 mixed pennant team take on top of the ladder Frankston. The Southern players played their best game of the season, but with strong penalty corners from Frankston, Southern went down 5-2, the score not representing how close the game was.

The under 12 mixed pennant team enjoyed their first win of the season. This team is young, very young, with 4 players who are under 10, and another 3 who are actually under 9. They have fought hard every game, great to see a win on the board in their 2-1 win over Footscray with Xavier Connor scoring both goals.

On Saturday morning at Farm Rd the under 10 quarter field players are continuing to improve as they play each week.

At Farm Rd on Saturday morning the under 12 south team played a strong game against Mentone. Two early goals by Atticus Nunes put Southern in front at half time, but Mentone fought back for a 2-2 draw. The Under 12 shield girls followed at Farm Rd winning against Mentone and keeping their first place on the ladder with a hat trick (AGAIN) to Puck Okhuizen and two goals to Taylor Nel.

Last in the morning of hockey was the under 10 half field. In the oddity of the under 10 season there are only 4 teams in the competition giving the teams lots of opportunity to play the same teams. The under 10 girls are improving their results each week with Waverley winning with a 2-1 score. The improvement of the under 10 mixed is also evident, going down 3-2 to Waverley white. Their three games against them have been down 6-0, then 3-1 and now 3-2 so huge improvement each game. Well done boys.

At the state hockey centre Under 12 mixed shield played Greensborough, after a great first half, they could not keep up the pressure and went down 3-1.

At Knox the under 12 girls pennant came from behind in the second half to draw 2-2. They were by far the better team in the second half and played some impressive creative team work to score twice.

The women’s teams all played on Sunday this weekend. The pennant B team who have not been beaten, but with two draws, had a hard game away against Waverley who are clearly on top of the ladder with full points, and a score difference of an impressive 29, Waverley showed that strength with a 4-0 win.

While at Farm Rd the result was the inverse. The Southern unbeaten metro A ladies – and young girls – team started the afternoon with a 5-0 win over Waverley. The women’s Pennant F team followed with a 3-0 win over Frankston with Allison and Evie Stansby both scoring a goal, while the Metro B team enjoyed a weekend off with a bye.

The women’s teams are having a stellar start to the season with all teams Pennant B, Pennant F, Metro A and B in the top four, in fact both Pennant F and Metro A are undefeated.