It was easy for the University Blue Whales to show their class as they beat the Taieri Tuataras 7-1 in the premier one men's challenge shield game on Saturday.
The Blue Whales started strongly at the McMillan Hockey Centre as they quickly gained possession and soon pressed Taieri's defence.
The first penalty corner of the match came for the Blue Whales just before the five-minute mark and Kieran O'Connor made the most of it with a shot that sped along the turf and through Taieri's defence for the Blue Whales to lead 1-0.
The Tuataras scored the second goal of the match as Callum Slee hit the back of the net with an aerial shot that was too good for Blue Whales goalie Brian Lee.
With the score 1-1, it was O'Connor again who put the Blue Whales into a 2-1 lead as a precise pass allowed him to get into the right position to chip the ball into the goal.
From there, the Blue Whales took hold of the reins and started to dominate.
Paresh Dayal broke past the Taieri defence and smacked the ball past the goalie for the Blue Whales to lead 3-1.
Halftime was near but the Blue Whales were not done, as Jarrod Casey claimed a goal by swiftly sneaking a shot past the goalie to put the Blue Whales 4-1 up at half time.
It took some time in the second half for the Blue Whales to reclaim their dominance but they soon got a penalty corner, their third for the match, and James Bennett took full advantage and the Blue Whales were 5-1 ahead.
The Blue Whales still were not done as Jamie Pollock and Hitaua Arahanga both scored off another couple of penalty corners and established the final score of 7-1.
In other premier one men's challenge shield game, Kings United A beat Albany A 6-3.
In premier two men's, Southern Development downed the University Black Panthers 2-1.
- Noah Graham
