Senior League Match Reports - 13 February 2022

PREMIERSHIP

Suntera Global Ballasalla Blizzards, 21 v Simcocks Red Eagles, 47

POTM Rachel Johnstone for Simcocks Red Eagles

The game started well with both team contesting for every ball, Kate Tebay and Sarah Long working well in their shooting circle, receiving pin point balls from their WA Ashley Hall to enable them to put some lovely shots up, this kept the Simcocks defence on their toes.  The other end of the court was much the same with Rachel Johnstone feeding her shooters just at the right time.  Balla Blizzards kept the Simcocks girls on their toes, making them think and forcing them to alter their game a little, Balla took the first quarter by 1 goal. 

 Simcocks came back onto the court in the second quarter with more determination and fight.  Hannah Leece and Rachel Johnstone making vital interceptions in the defensive end and mid-court for Simcocks.  Balla worked really hard, and Sarah Lister put pressure on the Simcocks Shooters, working really well with her team, but Aalish Bridson and Chloe Swales, linked well and shot really well.  Simcocks scored an impressive 18 goals in the second quarter.

  The second half of the game saw Balla make some changes to their line-up, Lydia Shaw taking the centre bib and putting Rachel Johnstone under some more pressure.  Stawna and Swales also switched in defence and the hard work of Vivia Stawna was relentless, she worked really hard for her team getting tips and interceptions from everywhere.  Simcocks seemed to pull ahead and Balla didn’t have the answers.  Ashely Hall worked tirelessly for the Balla girls and was always in the right place and the right time, but Simcocks had other ideas and Rachel Johnstone and Hannah Leece picking up their loose balls and making vital interceptions.  Simcocks won the game 47-21 with Rachel Johnstone taking Player of the March

CHAMPIONSHIP

Castletown Spaniards, 39 v Manx Gems Sapphires ,17

POTM Rebecca O’Neill for Castletown Spanairds

The two defences had the best of the first quarter, with both teams struggling to get the ball into their circles. Tori Leece at GK for Sapphires picked up some great interceptions but they couldn't get through the strong defence of Spaniards. The second quarter continued in the same vein with the defences on top, the Spaniards resorting to too many long balls into attack which the Sapphires defence were picking off. When the Sapphires get the ball to Alisha Fitzgerald (GA) she didn't miss. The first half finished 15-7 to the Spaniards.

In the second half the Spaniards got into their stride, with Centre Rebecca O'Neill moving beautifully and putting great balls into their attack. Sara Collister GA was scoring from everywhere and Zoe Ludford Brooks GS was finding great space under the post. Ashleigh Baines at C for Sapphires had a great game but had her work cut out trying to keep up with Rebecca.

The Spaniards defence kept up their work rate with Rachael Cubbon GK and Ruth Kinnish WD getting some great turn overs. The Sapphires were over run in the final quarter, losing it 4-14 and narrowly missing out on a point that they probably deserved. POTM went for a second time on Sunday morning to Rebecca O’Neill for Castletown.

DIVISION 1

Marbree Missfits C, 30 v Simcocks Silver Eagles, 20

POTM Tara Murphy for Marbree Missfits C

Missifts started the game well with Emma Riley as Centre making some lovely passes into her shooters Abbie Kelsey and Helen Watney who were on form and shooting well. Simcocks started the game slowly finding it difficult to get the ball to their shooters, however Simcocks got a couple in and started to build their game. 

The second quarter saw Simcocks react to the game and start to pull back on the lead the Misfits girls had got.  Niamh Coole was shooting well and Freya DeBacker working well for her team and placing some great balls into the shooters helping them pull back the score line to 6.  Missifts took the 3rd quarter with ease and started to capitalise on their lead, Niamh Baggesen-Cox came on for the Missfits girls and and Kinky Glassey worked hard in at GK putting pressure on the Simcocks girls and getting some great tips and interceptions for her team.  Tara Murphy down the other end was put under loads of pressure from Claire Parker and Vicky Waterhouse, but her movement and fine shooting was too much for The Simcocks girls and misfits took the 3rd quarter by 12 goals.

The fourth and last quarter looked like it was going to be too much for the Simcocks girls to do, however the Simcocks girls upped their game and put some pressure back on the misfits girls, unfortuatley it just wasn’t enough to take the game, but Niamh Coole and Stephanie Jurezynksa worked hard and moved round their circle well, Freya De-Baker moved to defence which made things hard for the Misfits girls and stopped them putting as many goals in the net, but misfits took the game 30-20 with Tara Murphy for the Misfits girls taking POTM.

DIVISION 2

Suntera Global Ballasalla Gales, 25 v Manx Gems Corals, 20

POTM Ihona Bridges for Suntera Global Ballasalla Gales

The game started with Ballasalla’s centre, Annelise Mellor taking the first centre pass. This quarter was fast paced from the beginning with both teams having equal possession of the ball. With excellent shooting from Lucy Brown (GA) for Gems and Nessa Farren (GS) for Ballasalla the first quarter ended in a very tight score of 5-4 with Gems only being in the lead by one point.

The start of the second quarter was a shock to many as Ballasalla had come back with a fire underneath them. Ballasalla mainly dominated this quarter with amazing interceptions from Trinity Hebden (GD) in the goal third. Ballasalla were able to drive the ball down to the other end of the court where both Iona Bridges and Nessa Farren would make many goals. In the second half of this quarter Gems started to fight back and started to make some goals again but unfortunately it wasn’t enough and by the end of the second quarter Ballasalla took the lead with a score of 14-10.

In the third quarter we saw the defence from Gems step up a level as they were allowing less balls to be passed into the D as well as making good interceptions allowing for the ball to passed down the court where Emily Brown (C) for Gems would feed the ball really nicely into the circle allowing for many goals to be made. With Gems being able to make more goals they shortened the gap between them and Ballasalla. However, by the end of the quarter Ballasalla were still in the lead with an overall score of 18-15.

In the last quarter we saw both teams contesting for the ball as the intensity of the game reached its highest with Ballasalla eager to stay in the lead and Gems wanting to close the gap in the score. This did lead to a few technical errors being made from either team however the play from either team was still great. With really accurate shooting from POTM Iona Bridges (GA) for Ballasalla, Gems were unable to close the gap anymore leading to Ballasalla winning the final quarter.

Pictured Simcocks Red Eagles