HIL: Soorma hand Lancers first defeat

Soorma Hockey Club handed Kalinga Lancers their first loss of the Hockey India League as they won 2-1, to stay in contention for a playoffs spot, in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday.

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The Harmanpreet Singh-led side took the lead after Jeetpal scored the opener in the 23rd minute and Vivek Sagar Prasad then doubled it in the 38th minute.




Earlier, Hyderabad Toofans registered a narrow 3-2 victory against HIL GC and rose to the third spot on the table with 11 points. Considering their healthy goal difference, they should hold on to their spot and make the playoffs. HIL GC, also on 11 points and having a positive goal difference, are currently fourth.

Lancers — already confirmed of the top spot — failed to dominate their opponents for the first time in the tournament and were handed a big blow at the end of the second quarter when Dilpreet Singh was shown a yellow card.

It was during this time that Soorma won a series of PCs and Vivek found the net following a variation and Lancers goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak was finally beaten.

With 11 players back on the field again, Lancers started creating attacks toward the end of the third quarter. They then upped the tempo in the final 15 minutes and had a few shots on goal, too. It was during this time that Lancers pulled one back when Liam Henderson stole the ball inside the D and scored a brilliant goal.

However, they couldn’t get the equaliser and Soorma earned their second win of the tournament in regular time. It took them to eight points and a win against SG Pipers in the final match of the group league will take them to 11 after which it will all come down to goal differences.

As for Lancers, they finished the league stage on top of the table with 16 points from seven games and will play the qualifier on Friday against the second-ranked team.


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