Soorma Hockey Club start league with win

Soorma Hockey Club started their Hockey India League (HIL) campaign with a stunning 4-1 penalty shootout victory over Tamil Nadu in Rourkela. The side also clinched a bonus point. Nathan Ephraums (49th) scored the first goal of the game for Tamil Nadu Dragons in the fourth quarter, but Gurjant Singh (54th) quickly equalised for Soorma Club, ending regulation time at 1-1 draw.

The Dragons made occasional forays into Soorma territory but failed to produce a shot on target. Soorma’s Gurjant injected some energy into the game by picking up the ball on the right wing, skipping past his marker and firing a reverse shot but Dragons’ custodian David Harte was up to the task.

In the dying moments of the first quarter, Victor Wegnez surged into the shooting circle, earning a penalty corner. However, Nicolas Della Torre’s flick went wide, leaving the deadlock unbroken. Dragons’ Thomas Sorsby created the first opportunity in the second quarter by drawing a penalty corner on the counter, but failed to find the back of the net.

Three minutes into the third quarter, Blake Govers got a penalty corner for Dragons, but Jip Janssen’s flick was off the mark. Nicolas Poncelet responded by earning a penalty corner for Soorma and David Harte pulled off a superb save to deny Harmanpreet Singh a goal. Soorma created a penalty corner as the last quarter began, but Harmanpreet’s drag flick was swatted away by Thomas Sorsby on the line.

Soon after, Soorma surged ahead in search for an equaliser and earned a penalty corner with six minutes left in the game. This time it was Gurjant who pounced on a save from Harte to lift the ball into the net and restore parity for Soorma Club, forcing the game into penalty shootouts.