Women’s EuroHockey Indoor Club Trophy (Lambersart, France)
AHTC Wien and Šiauliai Ginstrektė are already through to the top four promotion following their excellent starts to the women’s EuroHockey Indoor Club Trophy.
Pool A, though, remains in the mix with Watsonians, Iris Hockey Lambersart and Railway Union in contention for a top two spot
Morning session
Pool A
The opening tie between Gaziantep Doruk and Railway Union ended with the Irish side being awarded a 5-0 win due to the former side being found to have played two ineligible players. Normal time had originally ended 7-5 in favour of the Turkish side.
Watsonians, meanwhile, shaded their battle with the French host club Iris Hockey Lambersart 4-3. It was built on a dream start as Tabitha Peck, Emily Dark and Emilia Berndes-Cade making it 3-0 inside five minutes.
Sharon Seaton pulled one back but Dark made it 4-1 in the 15th minute. Paris Olympian Eve Verzura did get two back but they could not find an equaliser and so the Scottish side had the perfect start.
Pool B
Šiauliai Ginstrektė-Akademija got their bid to return back to the top tier under way with a hard-fought 4-2 win over Italy’s SG Amsicora. Maryna Vynohradova had given the Italian side an early lead but the Lithuanians got the next three and staved off a late rally from Amsicora with Dovilė Kuklienė scoring twice.
Newly promoted AHTC Wien showed why they will be a major force this weekend as their side packed with Austrian stars eased to a 9-1 win over HC Olten with Johanna Czech scoring three times with Tessa von Velsen getting two.
Evening session
Pool A
Watsonsians produced another fast start to race into a 3-0 lead in the first seven minutes thanks to Emily Dark, Katie Stott and Tabitha Peck to set them up for a 7-2 win over Gaziantep Doruk.
It was 5-0 by half-time and they had six on the board before the Turks got a couple of late replies from Emine Çelik.
Iris bounced back from their morning defeat to run up a 6-3 win over Railway Union and put them right in the frame for a promotion pool appearance.
In a topsy-turvy battle, Iris made the early running and built a 4-1 lead with two goals from Sharon Seaton. Railway fought back Sarah Patton and Orla Fox scoring within seconds of each other but Iris pulled away once more and ensured their rivals did not even get a losing bonus when Eve Verzura made it 6-3 in the final minute.
Pool B
AHTC Wien recorded their second big win of the day with a 7-0 victory over SG Amsicora, Maria-Luisa Esser the key figure with four goals. She scored their first three before half-time and further goals from Laura Kern, Philippa Proksch and Tessa von Velsen added to their goal difference.
It all but assured the Austrians would advance to the top four and that was confirmed when Šiauliai staved off HC Olten in a 4-2 scoreline.
It was a tight affair with Austėja Dimskytė and Flurina Conz sharing goals for 1-1 at half-time; Maya Flury cancelled out a Raminta Peskovė effort, 2-2 going into the final quarter.
There, Karolina Raulinaitytė put the Lithuanian club ahead for a third time and they stayed in front as they survived a missed Olten penalty stroke before Dovilė Kuklienė made the points safe on the final hooter.
Šiauliai and AHTC Wien meet on Saturday morning in an important tie to see who will carry the most points into the promotion pool.
