Round 13 - Match Report

8 Navy V St Bernadette's

The second last game of the season started with loads of enthusiasm from our girls. As the sun was shining, with a cool crisp breeze through the air, blue hair colour was sprayed onto the girls' hair in celebration of National Netball Day, we saw the girls excited, pumped and ready to go!

In the first quarter, we worked really well, demonstrating great teamwork and cohesion. We moved up the court swiftly, creating great spacing and passing quickly with high energy. Charley (C) stuck to her player when defending and worked well in centre trying to keep the ball moving down the court. Our GS Isabella gave it a good go at scoring a goal, but unfortunately missed.

Moving into the second quarter, we kept up the great momentum. It was evident just how much our girls have improved. We continued to keep up our pace at moving down the court quickly. Emma (WD), Emilie (C), Elise (WA) were working extra hard in the mid court trying to keep possession of the ball and passing it down as quickly as possible to our shooters, Lauren (GS) and Georgia (GA). We saw an exciting intercept from Milana (GK), which saw us regain possession of the ball and the excitement lifted.

However, by half time it became quite apparent that we faced a great challenge in defeating the opposition. St Bernadette's proved to be a strong team, with GA and C keeping our girls on their toes. With their powerful passes and interceptions, our girls had a tough job on their hands. The girls tried their best at every opportunity, using the skills learnt to keep the ball in OLOL's hands. Our defence was working hard to stick to their players and intercept at every opportunity possible. We saw some fast and controlled passing between Matilda (GA) and Emilie (GS) who were positioning themselves well to take a shot and try to score a goal.

We continued to try our best in the last quarter despite the score being unbeatable at this stage. Our team perseverance is one to be admired. We play our hardest until the very end with smiles on our faces and persistent enthusiasm. Well done girls! It is great to see how far our girls have come! We look forward to the final game of the season.

9 Gold V St Michaels

Today was emotionally challenging for us as it was our first game this season without Coach Lena, the pressure was definitely on Mrs Nesci to fill the “Super Coach” shoes!

The first quarter was impressive. The girls have become highly skilled with their placement of the ball around the court – clearly the drills at training are paying off! There were transitions on Saturday, which you would expect from much more experienced players. Awesome job girls! 9 Gold had a healthy lead at the end of the first quarter and just needed to slow things down a fraction so that we didn’t lose any opportunities which came our way.

Zoe, Melissa and Portia have mastered the communication between each other. We scored 14 goals from 20 attempts (70% accuracy). With our sizeable lead at the end of the third quarter, we had some fun with positions where the girls were challenged by playing in a position which they may find a bit daunting. This certainly didn’t stop the goals or the great defence! Today’s goals were scored by Melissa, Portia, Zoe, Georgia or Angelina – what an accomplished team! Girls, Coach Lena would have been so proud of your work on the baseline – we really should have videoed the game.

Tiara didn’t stop all game! She was fantastic as GK and featured in the final quarter in the vital “play maker role” of C. Georgia played the majority of the game as C with the final quarter as GA (Angelina joined her as GA). Fantastic team work girls, your goals were impressive but not as much as your individual celebrations J Olivia played WA for the first three quarters and totally nailed it. Awesome breaking Liv – you helped the consistent movement of the ball down the court with the support of Angelina, Allison, Portia, Zoe and Mia. Zoe was active all game; zipping around as well as producing some of the best shooting we’ve seen all year! Allison and Mia you rocked WA and WD. Again Allison, your work as GK is to be commended – keep up the determination. Mia, I counted four very, very determined intercepts – well done!

It was as if the girls were playing to impress Coach (in her absence) and it was truly impossible to award a player of the match given the stellar effort by all the team. Whilst we had a victory on Saturday, it was no means a breeze. St Michael’s have the beginnings of what will soon be a highly competitive team. There are some unbelievably tall girls who put consistent pressure on our players. Once these new St Michael’s players become more in sync with their team, this team is certainly going to be hard to beat. A team to keep our eye on!

Lastly, a huge “shout-out” to Courtney who was our fabulous umpire on Saturday. In 2015, we have been blessed with regular umpiring from some amazingly dedicated OLOL umpires. 9 Gold, in particular, you should look to both Courtney and Sam as shining examples of how you can give back to the club and continue to build club spirit (and pride) wearing the OLOL colours J Thanks Courtney & Sam, you make our games that extra bit special! Practise hard at home girls – Glenhaven next week … it’s going to be one gruelling game!

11D1 V Rams – Win 18-13

The girls had a slow start to the game with Erin and Lorraine in goals and Marisa and Naomi in defence, while the Rams girls hit the ground running and finished the first quarter in front.

Our girls found their form in the second quarter. Alana kept up the pace in centre with Erin and Olivia in the wings. Marisa and Naomi remained in defense and were able to stop Rams for scoring. Nicole and Lorraine played well in the circle together and were able to break away from their players and get OLOL ahead.

The final two quarters saw Emma and Faith play great games to continue the lead. The girls have learnt to read the game well and are able to help out their teammates.

Our under 11 team is a close team that players well together and supports each other on and off the court. They defeated Rams on the day 18-13.

Great work girls.