Women’s Hockey India League: Agustina Gorzelany shows her class again but indiscipline leads to Tigers dropping a point against SG Pipers

Agustina Gorzelany scored twice for Bengal Tigers. Credit: Hockey India League

The second edition of Women’s Hockey India League witnessed its first proper thriller as early leaders SG Pipers came from 1-3 down to snatch a dramatic late draw in regulation time before Bengal Tigers walked away with a shootout bonus on Thursday in Ranchi. It is a result that will delight and frustrate both managements in equal measure, but ultimately a fair reflection of how a rollercoaster panned out on New Year’s day at the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Astro Turf Hockey Stadium. Agustina Gorzelany (6’, 18’) and Lalremsiami (11’) netted goals for the Tigers in regular time, while Lola Riera (10’, 60’) and Sunelita Toppo (59’) scored for the SG Pipers.

For Tigers, it marked an impressive comeback from a 0-5 thrashing in their previous outing against Ranchi Royals as Gorzelany’s class came through from Penalty Corner situations. The Argentine superstar, who was the most sought-after player at the HIL auction, scored two thunderbolts from set pieces, sandwiched between a fine deflected finish by Lalremsiami. But the Tigers would be ruing two costly errors in the final quarter that brought Pipers back into the contest. A yellow card for Manisha Chauhan for a rough tackle led to a 10-minute suspension with 8 minutes to go, meaning the Tigers were left short defensively. Pipers took off their goalkeeper to increase their numerical advantage and piled on the pressure.

It got worse within the last couple of minutes as the experienced Sushila Chanu picked up a silly green card for not wearing her protective mask during a Penalty Corner defensive situation. It meant Tigers were down to 8 outfield players for the last couple of minutes. First Toppo converted from close range off a PC, and then Riera converted a Penalty Stroke with barely any time left. If not for those moments of indiscipline, Tigers were doing a good job of thwarting Pipers attackers.

The Pipers can be proud of the last-ditch comeback too, but the urgency in attack that was seen in the final quarter was absent in the first three as they squandered many opportunities. But Rizzo’s brilliance between the posts played as much a part in that as Pipers’ profligacy with the standout save coming from a PC when the American put her stick out to the right to deny Riera.