The Ladies were unsuccessful in their bid to defend last year’s title of Indoor Champion in Lousada. Yesterday they got off to a bad start, losing 3-5 to Sport Club: their opponents sat back to defend against the Casuals pressure, but were astute in using fast counter attacks to score at regular intervals. In the evening match against a talented young CAMIR side, the Ladies redeemed themselves with some fast and resolute attacking hockey which, despite some weak umpiring, brought them a deserved 6-4 win.

This morning they played Lousada in the last qualification match: an exciting game ended 3-3 and, in the ensuing penalty shoot-out, Casuals converted 2 of their strokes and their keeper defended all 5 of Lousada’s shots for a 5-3 win. This left three of the four teams tied on 6 points, with Casuals missing out on a place in the Final on goal difference.

Their only consolation was that they were awarded all 3 of the individual prizes:

Claudia Fidalgo won ‘Top Scorer’ and ‘Best Player’, and Andreia Rebelo won ‘Best Goalkeeper’. Inês Campos (U15) won also a place in Final-four U15 Dream Team.

Meanwhile the U15s had a tough start yesterday against Lousada (the eventual Champions), losing 1-12. But in their second match against old rivals Casa Pia, they upped their level to win a pulsating game 4-3, with the winner coming from a penalty corner in the last minute.

In this morning’s game against a difficult Juventude side they held out for the first 15 minutes, with their keeper making some fabulous saves; but they were eventually beaten 3-0. In their last game against Casa Pia for 3^rd place the whole team was rotated and, despite going into the break at 1-1, they ended up losing 2-5. However the improvement in their play over the weekend was notable.

See tournament photos:

With only a mathematical chance of reaching the Finals, the Men played their last two indoor fixtures this week. On Wednesday evening against Futebol Benfica, they were 2 goals down after 15 minutes but, after seeing one of their shots from a difficult angle come back off the post, they were encouraged to pull a goal back just before the break. When they went level at 2-2 in the first minute of the second half, a comeback looked on the cards, but a total of 4 penalty strokes – 2 to each team – were to prove crucial. Futebol Benfica converted their first to go 3-2 ahead, Casuals scored an excellent equaliser from a lifted tip-in. They then had their first stroke brilliantly saved, whilst the hosts converted their second for a 4-3 lead. When the Casuals had their second stroke saved and had a goal from a penalty corner disallowed, they took off their goalkeeper to try to force the pace: even here they were unlucky to concede a last minute corner, which Futebol Benfica drilled past the defender for a 5-3 win.

In today’s match against Carris, Casuals were 0-3 down at the interval. They mounted a brief comeback with 2 well-taken goals on the break to reduce to 2-4, but from there on they were caught in possession far too often and Carris scored regularly to finish 9-2 winners.

In Yesterday’s Winter indoor tournament the U13s finally pulled it together, using what they had learnt so far playing indoor for U15, U13 and U11 (of their 15 registered players, all 13 fit/available ones played in the tourno) to play some nice passing hockey. With a little help from the U15 coach, they beat Casa Pia B 9-0 and Casa Pia A 6-0.

PORTUGAL WINS EUROHOCKEY INDOOR NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP III with the help of 2 LCHC players! Congratulations PORTUGAL, Congratulations Tiago e Ralha! LCHC is proud of you!!!!

After the Veterans won their game against Belenenses 3-2 yesterday, the U15s turned out this morning for 3 more indoor matches at Casa Pia. Although they played some improved hockey in patches, they were a little unlucky to lose all 3 games by a single goal: 1-2, 4-5 and 4-5.

Just hours away from final player list to go to the Women Indoor Nations European Championship, Casuals has 9 players on the race for final line-up!!