Seasoned Belgian custodian Vincent Vanasch stood out with his clinical saves as Soorma Club rallied to beat Vedanta Kalinga Lancers 4-3 in a high-scoring thriller for its first outright win in the Hockey India League (HIL) 2024-25 at the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium here on Sunday.

In another contest, an attacking Tamil Nadu Dragons relied on Abharan Sudev and Thomas Sorsby’s fourth-quarter goals to defeat UP Rudras 2-0 and register its first win in regulation time.

Lancers dominated initially, with Enrique Gonzalez leading the raids. The Spaniard beautifully set up Thierry Brinkman, who beat Vanasch in the fifth minute.

Soorma drew parity as Jeremy Haywards’ drag-flick brushed Krishan Pathak’s pads before rolling in. At the stroke of the first break, Sanjay executed a low flick to convert Lancers’ third penalty-corner. Lancers came close to striking again, but Vanasch blocked Nicholas Bandurak’s attempt in a one-on-one situation. Goalkeeper Pathak and Arthur van Doren blocked multiple attempts to keep the Lancers ahead at half-time.

Soorma regrouped to show more aggression and equalised again, with Nicolas della Torres converting a penalty corner. The final quarter provided thrilling end-to-end action for the 15,000 crowd, with three goals scored in as many minutes. Harmanpreet Singh finally scored off a penalty corner to put Soorma ahead, but Gursahibjit Singh levelled the scores. Harish Mutagar’s sliding goal restored the lead for Soorma.

Lancers earned two short corners and a penalty stroke in the last three minutes but could not get past a resolute Vanasch.