Women’s Hockey 1sts came away with a well deserved victory in tough conditions, finishing 1-0 against Lancaster 1sts at UCLan Sports Arena.

The first half did not get going from start to finish, with wet and windy conditions taking over the quality of possession throughout.

It was Lancaster who made the early attack from a short corner, which was defended well by UClan.

The home side began to amass possession in the middle of the pitch, with coach Emma Noakes driving her team forward from the sidelines, but UClan failed to make any attack pay dividends.

A few minutes later, a Lancaster attack was broken down by Sarah Leyshon who passed the ball forward to win a penalty corner, which was converted by to put the home side into the lead.

Lancaster were looking to equalise straight away but it was the final ball for the away side that was lacking in the attacking third. UClan’s Sarah Leyshon had a fine opening to the match creating space for team mates with clever play.

As the end of the first half approached, UClan defended extremely well which had proved costly in previous matches this season.

The second half began very much like the first, with neither side taking a foothold in the early stages with the conditions playing a part.

 UClan once again showed their improvements in defence with some great interceptions and effective goalkeeping from Katie Radford.

A controversial decision regarding a Lancaster equaliser followed, after the attacker smashed the ball into the goal from a short corner, but it was ruled out as it failed to hit the back board.

As full time approached, a break in play for an injury saw time for a team talk and a substitute, midfielder Gabs Gaynor, who threatened throughout the remainder of the half.

UClan began to pressure with the introduction of Gaynor, who passed the ball into Kerry Madock-Jones to shoot wide.

Having lost the last two games heavily to tougher opposition, coach Emma Noakes was happy with the performance, especially defensively;

 “This was a must win game for us. Lancaster are a lower team in this league so it was important that we worked well and communicated on the pitch. We did that today.”

 By Laura Howard

Women’s Hockey 1sts faced a tough test as they fell to a 5-0 defeat against former division 1A side Liverpool John Moore University at USA.

The majority of the first half saw UCLan on the back foot, as Liverpool dominated and took the lead through a penalty corner.

After a series of stoppages in play, UClan’s Gabs Gaynor began to make inroads down the right-hand side causing the Liverpool defence problems with her pace.  Unfortunately for the home side, it was not enough as Liverpool went 2-0 up against the run of play.

UCLan won their first penalty corner moments before the half-time whistle, which saw another break by Gaynor, flicking the ball to Kerry Madock-Jones who saw her shot saved by the goalkeeper.

In the second period, the home side regained possession more effectively, but failed to create many chances. However, UClan began to lack confidence as Liverpool stole the ball in midfield, and won two penalty corners in quick succession, which was defiantly defended with a save from goalkeeper Katie Radford.

The 3^rd goal was inevitable after Liverpool continued to sustain the pressure and won another penalty corner, which was struck into the UClan defence and followed up by the Liverpool attacker.

A lack of defensive pressure and failure to defend set pieces was starting to prove costly for the home side as they conceded another penalty moments after which was converted  in style from just inside the area for 4-0.

Another shot saw Keeper Radford caught by the stick of the attacker causing a break in play for a much needed team talk.

UClan began to tire in the closing minutes, but they summoned a new lease of life after further encouragement from coach Emma Noakes. The home side quickly regaining possession and won a penalty corner, but succeeded only in hitting the post as their wait to open their duck continued.

But it was Liverpool who rubbed salt into the wounds of the home side as they converted a re-bounded effort 30 seconds from time to finish the match five goals to the good.

Noakes believes the team are still building and it was a lack of self-belief that saw the team slumber to a 5-0 defeat.

“It was a disappointing result for us, but I’m not too disappointed with our performance,” said the coach.

“It’s likely to be the hardest game we play all season, so I will look to focus on quicker passing and more commitment in the middle of the park for next week”

Team captain Anna Ramli also shared the coach’s view and focussed on picking the team up from the result;

“It’s disappointing but we can work on what went wrong today.

“I thought the girls played well and will look forward to playing University of Liverpool next week.”

By Laura Howard

UCLan Men’s Hockey 2^nd team started the season with defeat, as they were comfortably beaten 8-1 by Keele at UCLan Sports Arena on Wednesday.

The game began with some scrappy play from both sides as UCLan gave the ball away cheaply and a Keele player was green-carded for a high-stick.

The visitors took the lead after five minutes though, a scrappy penalty corner ushered home by the Keele forward from a narrow angle.

Keele then showed their dominance in attack for much of the first half and forced a good save from the UCLan keeper after a forward broke through on-goal.

A second goal didn’t seem far away and it came from another penalty corner. A fierce shot from a Keele stick was well saved from the goalkeeper before the rebound was forced in through a crowd of defenders to give the visitors a two-goal cushion.

The hosts however, started to get much more play in the midfield and could have had a goal after Tom Hughes broke through and it needed a fantastic save to stop his stinging shot.

Keele soon took the momentum back as the UCLan defence were forced to deal with a barrage of attacks on goal as the visitors always looked dangerous, especially from set-pieces.

The visitors added a third from a penalty corner on the stroke of half-time as a fiery Keele shot was spilled by the goalkeeper allowing the forward an easy tap-in to put Keele 3-0 up at the interval.

UCLan started the second half much brighter and Liam Sharpe should have scored after he cut inside and slid his shot just wide of the target.

The hosts paid for their lack of chances as Keele added a fourth from their deadly corner, this time with an emphatic finish into the roof of the net.

UCLan then added a goal themselves after good build up play in midfield and a cross from the wing, which Liam Sharpe expertly converted for the hosts’ first goal.

The celebration was short-lived however as a loss of concentration led to the visitors scoring four goals in close succession.

First, a goalmouth scramble led to a good finish on the line from a Keele forward before a wide player was allowed far too much space to cross the ball in for the prolific visiting forwards to finish.

Keele added two more soft goals just before the end as a dispirited UCLan side slumped to an opening defeat.

Captain Shaun Barrett said, “We gave out too many shots, I think if we improve our midfield and defence we will be better. The defence did their best without support.”

By Andrew Bunting

After an action-packed season, UCLan’s Hockey teams can reflect upon a season of relative success.

The Men’s 2^nd team won their league after a superb final day performance away at Lancaster, winning 3-2. 

The team only lost twice on their way to the title and next season they will play in the BUCS Northern Conference 3A. They were also the best defensively in the league, conceding only 14 in 10 games.

Team Captain Andy Bruce commended his team for a great season. He said: “I am extremely proud of my team this season.  The dedication everyone showed was the reason for our success. Each member of the team improved so much throughout the year.”

He singled out Sean Barrett as the player that most impressed him and applauded his ability to take what he learnt in training into games.

Bruce added: “The league above will be tough but I believe if the team carry on progressing how they did this year, then they will give any team a good challenge.”

The Men’s 1^st team finished 4^th in BUCS Northern Conference 2A with an inconsistent season of four wins, four losses and two draws.

Captain Rob Taylor and keeper Nick Richards were rewarded for their good performances with British Universities trials.

The Women’s 1^st team also had a great season after finishing runners-up in BUCS North West division 2A. They also made it to the Northern Conference semi final, narrowly losing out 5-3 to Manchester Women’s 2nds, who were undefeated league champions.

Hockey chair, Tom Dunkley praised the club’s members for their commitment this season.

 “Personally I think we have had a successful season.  At the end of last season I was concerned about the amount of players we were losing due to graduation.  However we managed to recruit a large amount of first years, which made up the numbers for the club.

“I believe that next season with the current strength of the club we can improve match results and league positioning and develop a greater strength in performance and greater depth in the squads.     We will be sad to see some of the outstanding players this season leave, Emma Nokes and Nick Richards in particular.”

Sam Goudie takes over from Dunkley as hockey chair next season and Goudie will hope that UCLan’s success will carry on into next year.

By Chris Mayer

UCLan 4-1 Lancaster

A dominant second half display saw UCLan brush aside local rivals Lancaster 4-1.

After a fairly even opening it was the home side that began to seize the advantage.

Following two good chances Captain Emma Nokes struck the opener as she calmly put UCLan ahead, profiting from an interception by Megan Grundy.

Another interception, this time by Cerri-Maddock Jones almost led to the second.  Jones’ ball through to Stacey Bell was inch perfect, but the ‘keeper produced a good save.

In the dying moments of the first half, and largely against the run of play, Lancaster drew level.  After a lucky break in the box the ball was poked home from only inches out.

Two goals in the first five minutes of the second period though, all but saw off the challenge.  Firstly Nokes grabbed her second of the game with a neat finish, before Bell put her side two up.

The visitors barely managed to break past the half way line in the second half, and eventually the onslaught of pressure told.

A delighted Bell grabbed her second, and ended all lingering doubts of a potential Lancaster comeback.

After the match the jubilant Captain said: “We started quite slow and the pitch didn’t help, but we were all over them in the second and it could’ve been more if we had taken our chances.

“We’ve shown how far we’ve come with a new team, and I’m proud of the team and proud to be captain.”

By Craig Davies

Deputy Sports Editor

UCLan 6-1 Liverpool John Moores

Chris Brumwell scored a hat-trick as UCLan’s Men’s hockey team won comfortably 6-1, against their counterparts from Liverpool John Moore’s to top the league.

Carrying on from their strong win against Manchester Metropolitan last week, UCLan once more dominated the game, justifying their place as new league leaders.

UCLan began hesitantly though, allowing the visitors to open the scoring when keeper Adam Dixon committed himself although there were defenders present, and an easy tap-in in an empty goal ensued. However UCLan soon levelled proceedings five minutes later when Keelan Sherwani scored after a good cross from the right side.

Two minutes later Tom Hughes intercepted the ball and crossed to Chris Brumwell who brilliantly rounded the keeper to give UCLan the lead.

From here on UCLan started to dictate the game and apply constant pressure to Liverpool’s fragile-looking defence, and at half-time, they had scored two more courtesy of Sam Ross and a second by Brumwell.

UCLan controlled the second half with Brumwell’s third a particular highlight, when he exquisitely rounded the defender and chipped over a hapless Liverpool keeper.  A sixth was added not soon after but by this point Liverpool had long looked out of the game.

UCLan’s defence were rarely challenged throughout, and defensive pair Danny Large and Captain Andy Bruce always had the better measure over Liverpool’s attackers.

Overall it was a game of how many UCLan could score, and how lucky at times Liverpool were not to concede more.

Bruce said after the game: “Despite the slow start, we had momentum throughout the game which we will now try to put towards winning the league.”

Edward Connolly

UCLan 7-0 Manchester

An emphatic display by UCLan Men’s Hockey 1sts ensured a comfortable 7-0 win over Manchester 3rds.

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UCLan 2-1 Lancaster

A 2-1 win over Lancaster saw UCLan’s Women’s Hockey 1sts advance into the semi-finals of the BUCS Cup.

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Another game and another defeat for UCLan Women’s Hockey 2nds after losing 6-1 to Manchester 3rds.

UCLan have yet to win in the league this year and continued to struggle against a strong Manchester side straight from the whistle.

Within three minutes Manchester were ahead with a smart turn and shot on the edge of the UCLan area beating keeper Marie Stuart.

Manchester then grabbed a second 10 minutes later after sustained pressure on the UCLan defence paid off.

From there it was difficult to see a UCLan revival, however Captain Laura Pitts and Gabrielle Gaynor  did provide a strong attacking option for UCLan and duly pulled a goal back, courtesy of Gaynor.

There was to be no stopping Manchester though as they made it 3-1 before half time in a period that could well have seen more goals in the back of the UCLan net.

The second half saw little in the way of improvement from UCLan as domination and a further three goals from Manchester insured the win.

Pitts said of the game, “At times we were defensively poor but lack of first team players made it a difficult game”.

The result ensures UCLan stay bottom with no points.

By Stefan Mackley

UCLan Hockey Men’s 2nds are back to winning ways after an 8-0 win over Lancaster 2nds.

The scoring was opened only 3 minutes into the game, Keelan Shewrani latching on to a well placed pass to round Lancaster’s keeper and slot home.

UCLan then went 2-0 up before they’d even played 10 minutes as Shewrani and Chris Brumwell split open the Lancaster defence, allowing Shewrani to grab his second.

UCLan continued to outplay Lancaster for the remainder of the half, both Shewrani and Brumwell applying sustained pressure on Lancaster’s brittle defence.

A further three goals added to UCLan’s lead before half time, Tom Dutov scoring either said of a Chris Brumwell strike rounded off a comfortable half.

The second period continued in similar fashion as UCLan grabbed a sixth shortly after the restart, with Dutov completing his hat-trick.

Two more from Brumwell ensured the win after an impressive performance, and one which sees UCLan go to top spot in the league.

Afterwards Captain Andy Bruce said: “We can definitely win the league”.

His team will hope to continue their winning streak against next week’s opponents, Edge Hill.

By Stefan Mackley