Women's Hockey India League: Bengal Tigers snatch narrow win over Soorma

RANCHI: JSW Soorma did almost everything right during their opening encounter of the Women’s Hockey India League against Shrachi Bengal Tigers here on Monday.

Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!

They won 13 penalty corners including the retakes, made 12 circle entries and had nearly 80% possession throughout the match. Despite that, it was the Bengal Tigers that came out on top as they won 1-0.

It was their first PC of the match and Argentine Agustina Gorzelany made no mistake of putting it into the net past Soorma goalkeeper Savita Punia in the 11th minute. It was a powerful shot, and the Argentine played it just by the side of the first rusher that made it more difficult for Savita to spot the ball and react.




However, after that Soorma had numerous chances to score but as coach Jude Menezes said it just didn’t come off on the day.

“It’s a game. Sometimes things go your way, sometimes it doesn’t. And today it’s one of those days where we did everything but didn’t score,” said the Soorma coach.

He was of course gutted about missing the PCs but was disappointed with the overall showing. “I think we should have been better. The score line doesn’t reflect how well we played, but we should be better. And we haven’t scored. So that's the bottom line,” he added.


Meanwhile, Lalremisiami of Bengal Tigers put up quite a performance with her running while defending the penalty corners and she was duly awarded the player of the match award.

Speaking about it, the Mizo star said, “We knew they had a good flicker and hitter. So, we were ready for it. I knew I had to do my own job, that is taking a good line and then the goalkeeper will take care of the rest. So, we had a clear idea about our roles, and it helped.”

Even at the very end, she made a brilliant block to deny Penny Squibb. They did win a successive PC, but Squibb failed to keep it on target the next time.

Meanwhile, Savita, who was making a return to action after injury, made two lovely saves in the third quarter to make sure Bengal Tigers did not run away with the game.

The first was off Noor de Baat from close range. The Dutch had a defender keeping a close watch on her, but she still made space and took the shot. Savita though got down in a flash to deny her.

The second was when there was just a minute left in the third quarter. It was a long through pass down the left flank and Lalremsiami deflected the ball towards the near post. However, Savita was once again up to the challenge and kept it out with her pads.

Soorma however did finish on the losing side on the day, but it will be interesting to see how they can come back in the next few games. As for the Bengal Tigers, they couldn’t have hoped for a better start to the tournament after failing to make the final last season.