Last weekend the British and Portuguese teams drew an exciting match for the Pringsheim Cup. After the Brits lead 2-1 at half time, the Portuguese built up strong pressure to lead 5-2. But the British managed to score 3 times on the break for a final 5-5 score line and a share of the trophy.

In today’s Veterans fixture, Casuals went 1-0 ahead against Belenenses, but allowed their opponents to equalise before the break. Casuals then took the lead again, before Belenenses made it 2-2 from a penalty corner.

At this morning’s end-of-season Hockey Feast there were games for all the Casuals juniors. After an U11 game, there was a game between mixed teams of U13s, U15s and U18s. This was followed by the annual prize-giving, at which medals and trophies were presented to Top Scorers and to the Most Improved Player in each age group.

Finally the U18s played the Ladies, and were made to work hard for a 2-1 win.

After the Casuals’ British team reclaimed the Kuiper Cup from the Dutch last week with an exciting 3-2 victory, today saw the two Portuguese teams compete for the Camões Cup. Although the game was tied 1-1 at half time, the Whites appeared to have the edge and did go ahead after the break. But the Blues not only drew level, but eventually found a third goal for a 3-2 win and the right to play the British in the Pringsheim Cup in two weeks time.

This weekend it was the Ladies and U15s turn to compete in their respective National Finals:

The Ladies began their first match against Sport Club with a goalless first half in which they squandered several chances. Another good cross at the beginning of the second half was missed at the far post, and after 4 minutes Sport took the lead from a scrambled goal. But with 4 minutes to go, Casuals scored a cracking equaliser from the edge of the circle, and this took the game into a shoot-out which they won 2-1 for their first win. In their second game against Viso, Casuals were once again unable to find the net in the first half. But a hat-trick of converted penalty corners gave them a 3-0 win.

The Sunday morning saw the crucial return match against Sport Club: the Porto team were in determined mood and had a 2-0 lead after just 6 minutes. But Casuals fought back strongly in the second half and levelled the score at 2-2 from two penalty corners. Sport went ahead again from a penalty corner and the Casuals keeper made a good save from a penalty stroke to keep it to 2-3. But Sport fired into the roof of the net from their second stroke to give them a 4-2 win and the title. Despite their obvious disappointment with 2nd place, Casuals made sure of a 3-1 win in their last game against Viso.

Once again, two of the three individual prizes went to Casuals players: Andreia Rebelo won ‘Best Goalkeeper’ and Claudia Fidalgo won ‘Best Player’.

The U15s couldn’t seem to get going in their first game against Espinho, and eventually went down 1-4. But they were fully committed in their afternoon game against Casa Pia, and a much improved performance gave them a 3-0 win.

They put up a brave fight in their first match on Sunday against Lousada, but were beaten 7-0 by the impressive eventual Champions, whose goal tally for the weekend reached 23-0! An exciting match against Casa Pia for 3rd place finished 1-1, and in the ensuing shoot out Casuals prevailed 3-2 with their keeper making a couple of great saves.

Two of their players were chosen for the Dream Team: Diogo Lima and Rita Ventosa.

Both our U13s and U18s performed excellently at this weekend’s National Finals in Lousada:

The U13s showed great character in never giving up and fighting to the end in all 3 of their pool games, with nail-biting finishes in the games they won. Against Viso, they were trailing 0-2 until the 32nd minute in spite of having many more goal scoring chances, when finally they pulled out the stops and won their first game 3-2. Against CAMIR, they got a 32nd minute tip in from a well-worked passing move up the pitch and then defended their lead like tigers for the last 8 minutes. In the last pool game against Lousada, they eventually lost 6-3, but only after clawing it back to 5-3 after trailing 5-1 at the interval. The final saw a very tired young side lose 7-0, but to their credit they only let in 2 goals during the second half (after a goalie change).

It was just reward that 3 of their players were picked for the ‘Dream Team’ of 7 – Maarten Green, John Harrison and Vicente Mourão.

The U18s’ first game on Saturday against Lousada was a very even game, with lots of missed chances from both sides. In the second half Casuals scored from a penalty corner which ended a game that could have been a 4-4 draw, as a 1-0 win. The second game against Juventude was again a game with many chances for both teams. The first goal came half way into the second half from a bullet pass into the circle which took a deflection for a goal. Casuals then scored from a penalty corner and scored a third from close range in the final minutes, to end the game 3-0 and top the points table overnight.

In the decisive first of their return matches today, Casuals went ahead against Lousada after 15 minutes and, despite  conceding an equaliser shortly afterwards, they went 2-1 up before half time. The second half saw some top, high intensity team hockey from Casuals and total dedication from their players. With two minutes to go, a Casuals player found himself one on one against the goalie but, after having managed to dribble past him, the angle was too narrow and his shot flew past the post. Casuals hung on until the final whistle, winning the game 2-1. Even a loss in their last game against Juventude made no difference to them claiming the National Champion’s trophy.

They also picked up prizes for ‘Best Goalkeeper’ – Gonçalo Brito, and ‘Best Player’ – Philipp Wenzel.