Women’s Hockey India League 2024-25: Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers outclasses Delhi SG Pipers in women’s clash; Soorma Hockey Club wins men’s encounter
Women’s Hockey India League 2024-25: Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers outclasses Delhi SG Pipers in women’s clash; Soorma Hockey Club wins men’s encounter
It wasn’t a great day to be a Delhi SG Pipers faithful at the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Stadium here on Wednesday as both the women’s and men’s teams were bested by 0-2 and 1-2 margins in their respective Hockey India League outings.
With both franchises mathematically out of the equation, a victory wouldn’t have helped either anyway.
The women made it evident that they had nothing to lose from the attacking approach they resorted to since facing pushback against the Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers.
Following an uneventful first quarter, Deepika almost got a breakthrough in the 18th minute after Udita’s intentional clearance handed the Pipers their first penalty corner. The Indian forward, looking for a deflection off the stick of Elizabeth Neal, found Jennifer Rizzo’s right kicker instead.
But it was the Tigers’ Kathryn Mullan who got the scoreboard running against the passage of play with an audacious swipe from the top of the circle to nutmeg Solanki Bansari.
The goal difference swelled as the Irishwoman featured on the scoresheet again. But it was more of a team effort on this occasion as an exceptional run by Vandana Katariya climaxed with Lalremsiami deftly tiptoeing along the baseline before providing an invaluable assist.
The Pipers took their goalkeeper off in the latter half of the final quarter, but neither side could make capital out of the move.
In the men’s fixture, an attacking 2-3-5 formation from the JSW Soorma Hockey Club would have got the message across early on. And Harjeet Singh was right on the money when he blindsided Pawan to bury his first goal of the tournament deep inside the net.
Poor defending by the inexperienced Pipers saw Gurjant Singh size up the ‘keeper before whacking the ball home right after resumption in the second quarter.
The ploy to replace the Pipers custodian Benjamin Rennie with a field player worked wonders as Corey Weyer pulled one back in the dying moments. But the ploy had eventualised a bit too late.
