Round 2 March 20th v Tango

League

It was always going to be a tight game. Tango finished one spot below us last year, so we really did have something to prove to ourselves. Our team goal was to maintain possession of the ball, contest and value each ball.

The game ebbed and flowed as each team seemed to take its turn scoring, before conceding. Lapses in concentration allowed the opposition to regain momentum. However, Garville didn’t collapse under the pressure.

Once again, we didn’t get the start we were looking for, scoring 1 goal from the first 5 goals. Like last week, Fish and Kirk offered 5-6 turnovers between them, and the shooters did reward their efforts with good shooting stats .We did recover to be 10 all at Q time.

The 2nd Q turned out to be solid, but at the same time disappointing. Kirk went down early in the quarter with an ankle injury, so we had to change up our defence. Nat went back to GK, and Jayme Lee, (SL/R captain who had already played a game), went on to negate a damaging WA. To the credit of the players, the disruption had minimal impact. The shooters Jules and Stacy shot at 80%, the highest of their season so far. Although Tango outscored us by 2 goals, we did put defensive pressure put on every pass.

It was time for Kate to shine. The 3rd Q belonged to her. She was relentless in her drive to the circle, with offers and re-offers. It was the highest scoring quarter from our previous 6 quarters. Affecting 10 turnovers, the shooters finished the work, and we achieved a 6 goal turn-around to be 4 goals up.

The last quarter was always going to be close. Tango scored 3 out of 4 goals in the first few minutes. Unlike last week, when we were challenged, we didn’t capitulate. The determination and fitness of Hannah, the grit and drive from Fish, and the hard body on body defence by Jayme and Nat, the constant attacks of Kate and the finishing skills of Stacey and Jules all paid off. Our first win of the season 40-42, one of many to come….

Reserves Garville 40 Tango 43

Well the game against Tango was a frustrating one! After a good first quarter that saw us up 14-11 we then went missing in the 2nd and 3rd quarters to be 8 down at 3 quarter time. The girls then put in an inspired effort in the last quarter and we outscored Tango 13-8. Unfortunately this wasn’t enough to make up the 3 quarter time deficit and we went down by 3 goals, 40-43.

Some positives to come out of the game was the intensity, commitment and skill we showed in the 1st and 4th quarters. This proved to us that when we work together, trust each other and put into practice all the things we’ve been doing at training and talking about we are good enough to beat teams.

What was disappointing about the match, was the 2nd and 3rd quarter efforts. Our inability to adapt to what was happening on court cost us dearly. In order to become a competitive team we cannot accept what happened on the weekend. We need to strive to be a more consistent and accountable team.

I have no doubt we will learn from this close loss and get them next time!