Women’s HIL: Pipers crack the shootout puzzle against Tigers, emerge champions

It was eventually Sofie Gierts’ coaching tour de force that saw SG Pipers pull the rabbit out of the hat. For they won the one penalty shootout that eventually mattered.

In the Women’s Hockey India League final at the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Stadium here on Saturday, the game trickled down to the third sudden death of the season between Pipers and Shrachi Bengal Tigers. The Bengal franchise had won the last two.

But Lola Riera’s rasping shot off a penalty stroke meant the redemption arc of Pipers, who had finished last in the previous edition, was now complete. The scoreline of 1(3)-1(2) shone bright on the giant screen.

The first quarter itself saw end-to-end action unfold on the turf. Tigers, in fact, dodged a bullet less than two minutes into the game. Ishika, having taken up the cudgels on Udita’s behalf at the baseline, sent in a cross to Jyoti Singh, but the Indian junior team’s captain was caught flat-footed. Argentina’s Juana Castellaro did get a shot on target a while later, but an alert Jennifer Rizzo scuppered the impending danger.

However, it was Tigers, who got to welcome Pipers back from the quarter break with the opening goal against the passage of play. Vandana Katariya’s decision to go for the high press paid dividends as Lalremsiami burned a hole into the roof of the net with a fiery strike.

Pipers skipper Navneet Kaur came perilously close to equalising in the third quarter, but the ball skidded wide.

Even as the clock seemed to die on Pipers, Preeti Dubey cracked the game wide open. Taking advantage of a goalmouth scramble, she cut herself some space on the right to launch a tracer bullet that caught an edge off Rizzo’s stick before dipping inside the line.

The result: SG Pipers 1 (Preeti 53) drew with Shrachi Bengal Tigers 1 (Lalremsiami 16); Pipers won 3-2 via shootout.