Netball County Schools U19 Tournament – 5.11.14

NULC - NETBALL MATCH REPORT

 

Netball County Schools U19 Tournament – 5.11.14

 

Venue: Outdoors at Newcastle-u-Lyme School

 

Last year NULC were unable to participate in this tournament due to bad weather, and this robbed us of the opportunity to prove we are the best U19 team in Staffordshire – so this year we wanted to do well.  Winning or coming Runners-up in the County round would see us through to the next stage, the West Midlands Regional Tournament on Saturday 31^st January 2015.

 

Playing outdoors is something we aren’t used to but luckily the weather remained fine and dry all afternoon, and our players weren’t at all phased by the fresh, cold air.

 

We were missing one key player, Olivia Stevenson, but new additions to the squad, Esme Griffiths, Caitlin Melvin, Alicia Day and Kate Palmer, joined forces with second years - Captain Jess Barnes, Becky Hall, Charlotte Emery, and Aimee Brown to put on some really good performances with comfortable wins over Biddulph 6^th Form (score 14 v 2), Stafford Grammar (12 v 4) and King Edwards VI (Lichfield) by 14 goals to 10 to then face St Josephs College (last year’s runners-up).  It was a really close match and some team changes at half time saw us grab the win by one goal 10 v 9.

 

As St Josephs had drawn with Newcastle-u-Lyme School, beating St Josephs meant the result of our game versus Newcastle-under-Lyme school (last year’s winners) would determine the order of the top 3 teams. Although our Goal Shooter, Jess Barnes was scoring the goals when we got the ball to her in the circle, due to us making a couple of unforced errors elsewhere on the court, N-U-L School were able to take the lead by 2 goals.  We pulled this back, but in the second half their attack took advantage of the many penalties and free passes awarded against us.  The result was a loss 13 v 9.

 

NULC finished in the runners-up position but still able to progress to the West Midlands U19 Schools Regional Tournament on Saturday, January 31^st 2015. 

 

With all players available – bring it on!