Soorma start HIL campaign in style with 4-1 comeback win

RANCHI: Soorma Hockey Club showed a lot of character to come from behind and beat Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers in their opening game of the Women’s Hockey India League at Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Astroturf Hockey Stadium here on Monday.
Trailing 0-1 after the first quarter, Soorma slammed four goals within a span of nine minutes in the second half to win the game 4-1. The four goals were scored by Olivia Shannon, Charlotte Englebert, Salima Tete and Sonam, respectively.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!
Speaking after the win, Soorma co-captain and player-of-the-match Salima sounded satisfied with the performance and said, “After conceding early on, we kept saying that we need to be patient and just score one goal. And we were able to do that. Our defence also was well organised. However, we failed to convert our PCs because their first rusher did a very good job and we will need to have a better plan next time.”
Earlier, Bengal Tigers opened the scoring in the eighth minute after Lalremsiami stole the ball from underneath the feet of Olivia Shannon at the top of the D. It was picked up by Lalrinpuii Pachuav and her cross fell to Hannah Cotter, who volleyed the ball into the net.
However, after the early strike from the Bengal Tigers, Soorma took control of the game and dominated it completely. They launched a relentless barrage of attacks and won multiple PCs. However, Bengal Tigers held on to their lead till the end of the first half.
But their walls were finally breached eight minutes into the third quarter when they scored the equaliser. Penny Squibb collected the ball in her half, made a run down the centre and caressed the ball towards Shannon, who was running up the left of the field. It was a lovely ball and Shannon put it past Bengal Tigers goalkeeper Grace O’Hanlon and into the bottom right corner.
Four minutes later, they scored their second and this time it was Englebert.
They had won their eighth PC of the match, and it wasn’t trapped properly. But Sophie Hamilton managed to recover the ball and play it to Englebert. The Belgian collected it, made a turn, and slammed it into the bottom right corner with a reverse hit to give Soorma the lead.
Even before the Bengal Tigers’ players could recover from the two quick goals, Salima scored their third of the night two minutes later with a forehand smash from the right.
If that wasn’t enough, Dutch hockey legend Maria Verschoor helped them win a penalty stroke two minutes into the fourth quarter following a brilliant run along the left baseline. Sonam took it and converted it with ease to complete the rout.