Soorma HC (W) and Bengal Tigers (M) emerge victors on Wednesday

Soorma HC in women’s and Bengal Tigers in men’s posted contrasting victories on Wednesday. While its a narrow 2-1 win over Odisha Warriors that gave Soorma an outright win at Ranchi, Bengal Tigers in Rourkela routed UP Rudras 5-3 , leading 5-0 at the end of 45th minutes. Rudras woke up late in the 4th quarter for all their three goals, but it came too late to lose the tie this way.

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Soorma  HC continued their strong start to the Women’s Hero Hockey India League (HIL) 2024-25 with a 2-1 win against Odisha Warriors at the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda Astro Turf Hockey Stadium in Ranchi today. Hina Bano (6’) opened the account for Soorma Hockey Club and Sonam (47’) doubled their lead in the last quarter. Freeke Moes (57’) brought the Warriors back in contention with a goal towards the end of the game but failed to change the outcome any further.

Odisha Warriors began the game on the front foot with Baljeet Kaur blazing into the opposition circle and forcing Soorma’s goalkeeper Savita into action. But soon after, Soorma Hockey Club initiated a counter attack through Ajmina Kujur on the left wing and found Hina Bano, who deflected the ball past Jocelyn Bartram to score the first goal of the game. The Warriors’ Sakshi Rana responded by earning a penalty corner minutes later but Ishika Chaudhary was unable to guide the ball towards goal. They continued to press ahead in search of an equaliser and Freeke Moes had an opportunity close to the end of the quarter but her shot sailed off target.

It was end to end in the second quarter with both teams battling to make headways into the opposition half. Soorma Hockey Club made the majority of the opportunities as the quarter progressed but were missing the finishing touch. With six minutes left in the quarter, Freeke Moes earned a penalty corner for Warriors but Claire Colwill failed to bypass Savita and her defenders. Freeke continued to threaten down the right wing and pressure Soorma’s defence but failed to create a scoring chance.

Soorma’s Salima Tete and Sonam looked dangerous as the third quarter began, dodging past defenders for fun and winning their first penalty corner. But Salima failed to put away the deflection from Penny Squibb’s attempt at goal. Halfway through the quarter, Salima embarked on another dangerous run down the right wing but could not find a teammate in the circle. Freeke continued to be the standout player for the Warriors, weaving past multiple players and earning another penalty corner with three minutes left in the quarter but Yibbi Jansen’s flick on goal was swatted away by Savita and Soorma maintained their one goal lead heading into the last quarter.

The Odisha Warriors looked to get back on level terms but, on a counter attack, Charlotte Englebert crossed to Sonam from the right wing, who dinked the ball into goal and doubled Soorma’s lead early in the fourth quarter. The Warriors began stitching together passes to surge ahead and create goalscoring opportunities but Soorma remained resolute in defence. However, with three minutes left in the game, Freeke pinched the ball high on the pitch and rocketed a reverse shot to beat Savita in goal and bring the Warriors back into the game. Although, Soorma managed to hold on to their one goal advantage and sealed their second victory.

Gauthier Boccard (8`), Jugraj Singh (10` and 33`), Sukhjeet Singh (14`) and Abhishek (46`) scored for the Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers. Hardik Singh (47`) and Sam Ward (51` and 59`) scored in the fourth quarter as the UP Rudras went down fighting.

The UP Rudras started brightly with their forwards Sudeep Chirmako and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay both finding their way into the circle but unable to test Jamie Carr in the Bengal Tigers goal.

The Rudras’ early lack of finishing came back to haunt them as the Bengal Tigers took the lead in the eighth minute. Gauthier Boccard went on a superb solo run as he jinxed past multiple defenders before placing the ball into the bottom corner beyond the reach of goalkeeper James Mazarelo.

The Tigers pressed their advantage and won the first penalty corner of the match in the 10th minute. The Rudras had never conceded a goal from a penalty corner this tournament having successfully defended all 20 penalty corners they had faced so far.

Jugraj Singh broke the duck with an unstoppable drag flick which took a deflection off the first rusher, taking it away from Mazarelo.

The Tigers did not take the foot of the gas as they scored their third goal in the 14th minute. Sebastien Dockier got the ball in the circle before shooting at goal from a promising angle. Mazarelo saved Dockier’s attempt but the rebound fell to Sukhjeet Singh who poked it in for the 100th goal of the Hero Hockey India League 2024-25 season.

The UP Rudras players protested the goal as they believed there was a stick tackle in the build-up to the goal but the TV umpire saw no reason to disallow the goal. The Tigers took a 3-0 lead into the second quarter.

The Tigers won three penalty corners in a row in the 21st minute but Mazarelo and Surender Kumar ensured that the Tigers did not get a fourth goal.

The Tigers thought they had scored their fourth in the 26th minute when Sukhjeet Singh bundled the ball over the line at the end of a quick counter attack. However, the TV umpire ruled that the ball had come off Sukhjeet’s back stick when he scored.

With six seconds left in the second quarter, the Rudras won a penalty corner. Tanguy Cosyns’ drag flick was charged down by Joshua Beltz as the Tigers went into halftime 3-0 ahead.

The Tigers finally got their fourth goal three minutes into the third quarter. Sam Lane won a penalty corner which Jugraj Singh duly converted to nab his fifth goal of the season, the joint-most alongside Tomas Domene and Jip Jannsen.

The Rudras came within inches of pulling a goal back in the 40th minute but were denied by some incredible defending by Florent van Aubel. Kane Russell’s drag flick came off Jamie Carr’s glove before trickling towards goal. Van Aubel, positioned on the post, jumped over his goalkeeper to flick the ball away on the line.

The Tigers began the final quarter with a typical counter attacking goal. They defended a penalty corner before launching the counter. Sukhjeet Singh played it to fellow Indian forward Abhishek who dummied his shot to fool the defender before firing an unstoppable shot past Prashant Kumar Chauhan.

The Rudras won a penalty stroke in the 47th minute as Sam Ward was bundled over in front of goal by Tim Cross . Captain Hardik Singh stepped up and lofted the ball into the top corner to pull a goal back for his side.

The Rudras set up a nervy final 10 minutes for the Tigers as they pulled another goal back thanks to a Sam Ward penalty corner goal in the 51st minute. Ward scored his second goal and the Rudras’ third in the 59th minute from another penalty corner.

Despite their valiant efforts, the UP Rudras could not complete the turnaround. With the win, the Bengal Tigers leapfrog over the Hyderabad Toofans and the UP Rudras to second place with 12 points. The Rudras, meanwhile, drop to fourth with nine points..

The Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers will play the Odisha Warriors in the Women’s Hockey India League on January 16 at 6:00 PM IST.

The Delhi SG Pipers will play the Vedante Kalinga Lancers in the Men’s Hockey India League on January 16 at 8:15 PM IST.