Rajiv Dillon and the Tigers made the most of set piece plays Sunday on the turf at UVic, knocking off Rebels, the hottest team in the Vancouver Island Field Hockey Association’s competitive division, by a narrow 3-2 margin.
Dillon pulled the trigger with no time remaining in the fourth quarter and the teams tied 2-2. His third goal of the contest, all of which came off penalty corners, ended the game on a positive note for Tigers.
The victory not only avenged a 3-1 loss to the Rebels in the teams’ previous matchup on Oct. 29, it pulled Tigers (3-3-0) to within two points of Rebels for second place with a game in hand.
Alex Moore and Bevan Vandenberg tallied for the Rebels (3-2-2), who were handed their first loss in five games.
Division-leading UVic Vikes had the weekend off for reading break.
The day’s recreation division game saw Hawks run Rebels 2 out of steam in the second half en route to a 3-0 victory. The game was scoreless at the half, but the as-yet unbeaten Hawks (3-0-0) got goals from Hardeep Grewal, Rishi Sharma and Gursharan Kalar to put the game away.
Rebels fell to 0-2-1 on the season.
Next weekend’s return to a full slate of games sees Hawks take on Marauders in rec play to start the day at 10:30 a.m., followed by competitive division matches at noon (Tigers vs. Victoria League Selects) and 1:30 p.m. (Vikes vs Rebels 1).
Inset picture: Rajiv Dillon (left, in black), had the literal eye of the Tiger on Sunday at UVic, scoring three times off penalty corners to lead the Tigers to a 3-2 last-play victory over Rebels 1. (Photo by Don Descoteau)