Ellie-Marie Watts

Returning home from their first weekend away in the AWIHL season, the North Stars-Sirens backed up their confident predictions with two wins against the Brisbane Goannas. The Sirens team and coaching staff were quietly confident they would do well in Queensland, hoping to use the drills and plays they have been practicing to win both matches on the weekend.

“Our preparation was fantastic,” said Coach Andrew Reynolds. “However we underestimated what Brisbane was capable of as demonstrated in the score line.” Coach Mark Stephenson said the Sirens let the Goannas “dictate the game” on Saturday, which ended in a 3-1 win for the Newcastle team.

Sami Lai, Sharna Godfrey and Rachael White managed to get around the Goannas goalie and produced the three goals for the Saturday’s win. Identifying their mistakes from the day before, the Sirens turned up the heat on the Goannas for Sunday’s game, going in with a different mindset and ready to play Sirens hockey. The game ended in a 13-2 win.

“Brisbane have some veteran players who played some smart hockey all weekend,” said Sirens goalie Sera Dogramaci. “We struggled to score in the first game because of shooting straight at the goalie, and not finding the gaps. “Sunday however we were shooting to score, picking up rebounds, being in the right position, and nailing a couple of set plays we’ve been working on.  It was brilliant to see,” she said.

The Sirens are hoping to replicate their performance from Sunday when they face the Goannas again the 19th and 20th of November at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium.