By Jonty Ralphsmith
Casey had a crucial 4-3 win over West Vic at Essendon last Wednesday, keeping it within two points of the finals bound top six.
The Cannons continued their fast-starting trend by getting on the board first in the opening quarter via a penalty stroke which Sam Wagg converted.
West Vic responded promptly but teenager Aleisha Foot scored a goal late in the first quarter to ensure the visitors’ ascendancy was reflected on the scoreboard at quarter time.
West Vic scored the next two, taking the lead midway through the last quarter, before the Cannons rallied to score two late ones to emerge with the three points.
The last two goals came in the concluding seven minutes of play; via a Wagg short corner goal and Emma Harris giving them the lead with three minutes to go in her 100th game.
“The girls fought hard and turned it around,” said coach Andrew Harris.
“We either could have conceded or really gone the other way and stepped up and it was the latter which was another show of resilience and another good example of our fitness.
“It was huge for confidence after having some narrow defeats.
“It was good to put four goals in – we’ve been attacking a lot (in recent weeks) but not scoring a lot so to convert was important and hopefully improve the confidence of the strikers.”
The coach heaped praise on milestone lady Harris, who coaches a junior team and has implemented a buddy system at the club to help ease the transition into senior hockey for young talent.
He also gave a shoutout to junior Chantele Galado who immersed herself in the senior lineup “doing everything on the night other than playing.”
The Cannons finished third last season, with this season’s results effectively mirroring that of last season’s.
Casey is currently seventh, sitting behind the two incumbent Vic League 1 teams and four teams which were demoted from Premier League as a result of the competition recalibration.
“We’ve had narrow losses which from a results point of view has been disappointing but from a game plan aspect, I think we’ve done quite well,” Harris said.
