After the disappointment of travelling all the way to Geneva last weekend to be told that the games were cancelled, it was good to be able to play some hockey this weekend!
Unfortunately, the matches were against Luzern and Rot Weiss Wettingen so it would not be an easy two games.
Grasshopper Club Zürich 2 - Luzerner SC 2 --- 1:10
At the start of the game with Luzern, the game was quite open. Both teams had some chances and runs on the opposition’s goal. Tilia was kept busy right from the beginning as she up for the challenge and saved shots from left, right and even one that looped over her head that she somehow managed to push onto the crossbar for Anna to clear away in the defence.
The Luzern attack were tenacious and were not going to give up easily. A combination of well-worked goals and rebounds gave them a lead of 6:0 at half time.
Determined not to allow them to double their lead in the second half, GC battled back. The defence remained solid and the link-up play between the midfield and the forwards was much improved as the game progressed.
5 minutes from the end of time, GC were awarded their first short corner of the game. Laura injected the ball to Susi, who was cool, calm and collected, and slotted the ball into the goal to the left of the goalkeeper. It was a nice consolation goal and it was nothing less than the team deserved after working so hard throughout the whole game. The game ended 10:1.
Rotweiss Wettingen 2 - Grasshopper Club Zürich 2 --- 11:0
In the match against Rotweiss Wettingen, we decided to focus on some points that we wanted to improve from the first match. In the first game we were too static when we had the ball which made it very difficult for us to play the ball around the pitch without pressure from the opposition so this was the first point to improve upon. The second was to make sure that when defending our sticks were on the ground; too many of the goals in the first game were made because we were playing too upright.
GC started the match more aggressively than the first game and the focus on movement off and on the ball improved the play immensely. GC were able to withstand the pressure from the Rot Weiss Wettingen team. Rotweiss Wettingen looked frustrated but they were persistent and their first goal came from an unlucky deflection from the defence. The defence proved more solid than in the first game and managed to hold the Rot Weiss Wettingen team to 4:0 at halftime.
The GC team battled on in the second half with some good working counter-attacking with Katha and Hanna upfront but the goal remained out of reach. Defensively, we were strong with Laura and Anna both working hard to keep the forwards marked and cut down the chances that opposition were able to make.
In the middle of the second half, Rotweiss Wettingen were awarded a penalty. Tilia was more than a match for the forward and she easily saved the shot to keep the score at 6:0.
As the match wore on, Rotweiss Wettingen were able to take advantage of their four substitutes and exploit the tired legs of the GC team. The final score was 11:0.
The score lines do not look pretty but the GC team showed more improvements and enjoyed the hockey that they played.
Welcome to Susi who was playing for the first time and scored her first goal for the team. Special thanks to Mathilde for her role as super coach and thank you to Cathelijn who was injured but came to support the team!
GC Players:
Tilia Schneider (GK), Laura Poulastrou, Lyndsay Lomax, Anna Denkeler (C), Hanna Wettstein, Katharina Zachariassen, Susi Dap
Coach: Mathilde Dupin