New Delhi: Kalinga Lancers held their nerve to enter their second successive final of the Hockey India League 5 with a dramatic 4-3 win over Uttar Pradesh Wizards in a penalty shootout in Chandigarh on Saturday. In the second semi-final, league toppers Dabang Mumbai pipped Delhi Waveriders 2-0 riding on Robert Kamperman’s 26th minute field goal off a penalty corner chance. The final is slated for Sunday evening.
Aran Zalewski struck the golden goal in the sudden death, beating India skipper Sreejesh P.R. that saw the Lancers seal the berth. Lalit Upadhyay scored twice in the shootout in the Lancers win. In the tie-break, Lancers goalkeeper Andrew Charter rose to the occasion to see his team through after 60 minutes of full-time ended with a 4-4 scoreline. Uttar Pradesh Wizards were ahead 2-0 in the fouth minute itself when Arthur van Doren, FIH rising star of the year of 2016, was impeccable in his assist to Florent van Aubel, who put the ball past Charter. Lancers reduced the deficit five minutes later through their first penalty corner.
Though Moritz Fuerste couldn’t take the flick due to a missed trap, they quickly recovered with Aran Zalewski finding the rebound to assist Devinder Walmiki who deflected the ball into goal. Uttar Pradesh’s in-form forward Akashdeep Singh made several strong attempts at converting a field goal and he even came close to scoring in the 18th minute when he raced into the but he was slightly off the mark and the game went into half time at 2-1.
Kalinga Lancers struck in the third quarter when their captain, Moritz Fuerste, beat Sreejesh with a flick-shot in the 35th minute. They came close to taking a 3-2 lead in the 44th minute, but both attempts by Fuerste were thwarted by the Uttar Pradesh defence. In an intense final quarter, the Lancers turned matters in their favour when Aussie forward Glenn Turner beat the Uttar Pradesh defenders to find Billy Bakker who scored a fine field goal to take their score to 4-2. They were quick to earn back-to-back penalty corners with just a over a minute to go for the hooter but couldn’t make much of it.
