Caroline Springs had the better of Melton in the first local derby in Hockey Victoria’s Vic League 2 competition.
The newly promoted Springers dominated the scoreboard on the way to a 7-0 win.
Springers’ coach Ron Shadbolt said he was happy with the first-up performance.
“We had quite a number of players playing Vic League 2 for the first time and not everyone was available,” he said.
“The game was played in good spirit. We stuck to the game plan for most of the game. We fell away for a few minutes, but that’s to be expected when they haven’t played together before.”
Laura Brown scored a hat trick for the Springers.
Shadbolt said they would only get better as the team got used to playing at the higher level.
“They’ll get a better understanding of each other and they’ll improve with the run.
“We now face the team we beat in last year’s grand final.
“The next six to seven weeks we will be tested as we get reacquainted with this level.”
In other results, Caroline Springs’ second women’s side won 2-1 against Sunshine in metro B west, while the men’s metro A north west side lost 3-2 to Footscray and their men’s metro B west side lost 6-1 to Essendon.
Melton’s Vic League 3 men’s side lost 6-2 to Swinburne.
