The Sydney University men’s Premier League hockey team cemented a top six position on the table after a gritty 5-4 victory over St George on a very wet Saturday.
On a slow and damp field Uni were forced to play catch up for the first half of the game, but the team showed enough spirit to stave off a committed St George outfit.
St George scored early in the game against the run of play, but Uni then returned fire quickly to even things up. Uni always seemed to possess a greater level of poise and control though a rock-solid defence and clever passing up front, despite the sodden pitch.
Once again St George scored against the run of play to gain a 2-1 lead, but Uni again equalised, this time from a short corner before half time.
Sydney Uni seemed to be calmer and more poised in the second half, and a clever short corner and a well-worked field goal made it 4-2 before a dubious goal cut Uni’s lead back to 1 goal. As the rain continued to tumble Uni went up 5-3. With just minutes to go St George were back in the match after a quick field goal made it 5-4. Any chance of a comeback was snuffed out thanks to Uni’s increasing maturity as they dominated the last few minutes to take the 3 points with a 5-4 win.
In other news, Sydney Uni 2nds won their game by forfeit to move into 8th position. The team will be buoyed by the return of long time Premier Squad player, women’s coach and SUSF Gold Ben Chiarella who has agreed to come out of retirement to coach the 2nd grade men until the end of the season after their coach, ex SUHC President and vet, Justin Friemann, was transferred to Japan.
