Edinburgh's women give Uni an early lead in Burgh Varsity

Edinburgh University's defense of the their Varsity title against Heriot Watt got off to the best possible start on Monday night at Peffermill with the women's hockey team running out comfortable winners against the visitors.

Strong attacking prowess saw Kim Balmer and Alex Messerli grab two goals each, with Siobhan Prise and Fee Thomson adding their names to the score sheet for the home side.

Despite both teams starting well and creating early opportunities to take the lead in what looked set to be an evenly-matched game, Edinburgh's experience of playing regular hockey a league above their Heriot Watt counterparts showed through in a decidedly one-sided encounter. The home side's dominance was exemplified by the closing score as Kim Balmer's second goal of the match bought the score to 6-0 in the 60th minute.

Edinburgh pushed for an early lead and after only nine minutes the score was 1-0 thanks to Prise's effort from a penalty corner. Keen to gain the first Varsity victory, both teams continued to create scoring opportunities but Heriot Watt's defense was not as assured as Edinburgh's. The home side applied considerable pressure to the visitors' defense and were only denied doubling their lead by Heriot Watt 'keeper, Louise Duffy, who managed to maintain the one-goal deficit.

The early parity between the teams disappeared after the opening quarter, with Edinburgh in ascendancy going forward, and were soon rewarded for their control in the match with a goal from the ever-industrious Thomson after twenty-five minutes.

Heriot Watt only had themselves to blame for Edinburgh's third goal of the evening, which came only two minutes after Thomson's. The visitors gifted Edinburgh another penalty corner and Messerli calmly slotted the ball past the keeper from a tight angle to make it 3-0. Edinburgh now had a commanding lead, and with the their opposition's confidence low, they made it 4-0 on the stroke of half time. Balmer clinically lashed the ball past the hapless Heriot Watt 'keeper, leaving a second half comeback by the visitors looking highly unlikely.

Mere minutes after the re-start, Messerli grabbed her second goal. Once again, the visitors' slack defence was to blame for Edinburgh's scoring opportunity, as Heriot-Watt failed to deal with a well-placed through ball which was then pounced upon by the alert Messerli.

Edinburgh controversially had two goals disallowed in quick succession but this did not stop their attacking form and they extended their lead to six when Balmer scored her second of the match thanks to a lack of ball control by Duffy. With the game well wrapped up after 60 minutes, Edinburgh eased off with Heriot Watt appearing to have accepted the defeat and offering little in the way of attacking incision.

Speaking after the game, Edinburgh coach Dickie Davies highlighted the importance of the match as a chance for fringe players to earn some game time, adding that he took several positives from his young side’s performance.

"We performed well in patches," he said. "The finishing was better than it has been and movement was much better up front than it has been recently. This game was very important. This is the youngest squad we have had at the university in five years with the average age of the first-choice eleven just under twenty. There are eight freshers in the squad this year so it was a chance for them to get used to how the team plays."

The other Edinburgh teams will be hoping to emulate the dominance shown by the home side in this fixture in their attempt to retain the Quaiche for a third year running.