Melbourne Floorball League - Rnd 3

The opening match had the Spartans, fresh from their duties team last week, taking on the might of the Stingers, who have been growing in strength in the past few weeks with the inclusion of Australian representative players such as Peter McKinsley, Warren Mazurek, Meaghan MacFarlane and of course their captain David Hammond.

The first period started with much sniggering as the Spartans captain Will McDade had to quickly don limited goalie gear as regular goalie Chris Borjarski was delayed by traffic. While his attempts were valiant, all 3 goals scored by the Stingers in the period were during his 12 mins in the net. But not all was lost for the Spartans thanks to some good shooting by Peter Campbel that saw him end the period with 2 goals. The scores were level 3-3.

The second period was tight, with only 2 goals scored in the 20 minutes. Both of these were in classic floorball style with a fast break on the wing passed into an un-marked player in front of goals. Both assists coming from former Australian vice captain Mat Benfield. Spartans up 5-3.

In the final period, the Spartans scored 2 early goals to take their lead to 7-3. The Stingers then turned up the heat, at one stage fielding 4 Australian Reps at the one time. This proved to be a successful move, as they closed the gap to 7-6 and were awarded a penalty hit with only seconds remaining. The Spartans were able to keep the shot out and get home by one goal.

A point of note to come out of the game is the juniors who are currently playing with the Stingers are improving out of site. Other teams are starting to look at introducing a few of them on to their own lines due to their enthusiasm as well as their ability to run and run and run and run and run and…(you get the idea). This can only be good for the game’s development in Victoria.

SPARTANS 7 (Peter Campbel 4g 0a, Andrew Stagg 1g 1a, Sarah Rist 1g 1a, Will McDade 1g, 0a, Mat Benfield 0g, 3a)
def.
STINGERS 6 (Peter McKinsley 3g 1a, Warren Mazurek 2g 1a, Meghan MacFarlane 1g 1a, Kirsty O’Connor 0g 1a)

The second game of Round 3 saw both of last weeks losing teams meet, hoping to turn around their fortunes. The Aerial’s season has so far been a seesaw for the reining spring champions, a 22-3 win in the first round then a 10-2 defeat in the second. The Panther’s have only had the one outing, going down to the Stingers last week in their first game as a team and were clearly pumped up and ready to try for their first win of the season.

The first period was the tightest of the season so far. There were many shots on goal, however both teams defences did not allow a clear shot. Anything that did get through was stopped by the goal keepers (Simone Degraz for the Aerials and Josh Burt for the Panthers). Only a solitary goal was scored, late in the period, by the Aerials captain, Mikeal Ekholm. Aerials 1-0.

The second period saw a more free flowing affair, with 5 goals for the period. The Panthers captain Matt Mullins was on target early for a top right corner shot from a distance. There was also the unfortunate situations of an own goal by the Aerials as well as a 2min penalty for playing the ball while on the floor. Again it was the Aerials Captain showing the way by adding a further 2 goals to see the Aerials go into the last break 4-2 up.

In the final period, the Aerials put the ball in the back of the net early to lead 5-2. Then the Panthers, lead by Greg Koster, turned it on. They scored 3 unanswered goals to draw level with the Aerials with 3 minutes to go. Again it was the Aerials captain, Mikeal, who would provide when needed and scored the winning goal with 58 seconds remaining on the clock. Aerials 6-5.

AERIALS 6 (Mikeal Ekholm 4g 2a, Peter Palmqvist 1g 3a, Torgny Wilhelmsson 1g 0a, Ken Rylander 0g 1a 2 min pen)
def .
PANTHERS 5 (Greg Koster 2g 0a, Matt Mullins 1g 0a, Stuart Quenette 1g 0a, AERIALS 1 own goal)

Ladder

As special thanks must go to out to the stats people on the day, Emma Jamieson and Rebecca Neligan, an outstanding effort. Hopefully the standard has now been set for the remainder of the season.

THIS SUNDAY (3rd NOVEMBER 2002)
1.00pm VFA BBQ
3.00pm VFA AGM
4.30pm  Aerials Vs Spartans
6.00pm  Vikings Vs Panthers

Duty Team: Stingers

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