Hockey India League: Soorma Hockey Club, Vedanta Kalinga Lancers meet with semi-final place at stake

Soorma and Kalinga Lancers are fifth and sixth in the Hockey India League points standings.

Soorma Hockey Club are building up a head of steam in the business end of the season having won both their matches in Phase 2. Their penultimate match of the Men’s Hockey India League will be against the Vedanta Kalinga Lancers at the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela. In their previous encounter with the Lancers, Soorma registered a narrow 4-3 victory courtesy of a goal from Harish Somappa Mutagar.

“It was close against the Lancers the last time, but we won’t change our approach for this match. We have to just make sure that we are ready and that we are able to make sure that our team is fit and fresh to play this game. We want to be the best version of ourselves, each and every game and we want to make sure that the players are ready to play this big game again,” head coach Jeroen Baart commented.

Soorma are placed fifth on the points table, having secured three wins, two penalty shootout wins and one penalty shootout loss. They have won both their matches in Pool A since Phase 2 began, placing them in contention to make it to the semi-final with two games left in the league.

“I’m pretty proud of our team. We have made progress from from the moment we got together in the beginning of December until now. Every session that we went together, on the field, of the field, in the meeting room or in the gym, these boys are very eager and are working together to become better every single moment.

“I’m really proud of the evolution that we had to make sure that we keep building, and we get at the best version of ourselves at the end,” Jeroen explained.

The Lancers themselves are placed sixth on the points table. Thierry Brinkman has been their standout player, scoring nine goals in nine matches to stand on top of the goalscoring chart. They have a slight chance to make it to the semi-final if they win this encounter as well, making it a crucial game for Soorma.

“I think Thierry’s a very, high quality player. He has a certain drive which makes him very dangerous in the offensive circle. We have to be mindful of it, so that means our defense, will be oriented to him, definitely. But he’s not the only player that we have to watch out for the Lancers; they also have Domene and Antoine Kina.

“But again, I’m pretty sure that like we saw in the first game that we played them, we can match those qualities as well and we will be ready to face them,” he added.

“It will be a crucial match for us because we don’t know exactly what’s going to happen with all the other results in the lead up towards the final, but a win against the Lancers will set us up in a very good position to make playoffs. So, we just have to be ready, have to be mindful, have to stay sharp and make sure we play the best game that we can against the opposition,” he signed off.

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