Macedon 26 Lost 34 Lancefield
We always knew that it would take some adjusting to playing without Sammi but we had the confidence needed to take the court and do our jobs.
The first quarter started well with the Cats scoring the first 2 goals but we gave away the ball with some poor shooting and Lancefield clawed back into the game with the next 3 goals. We kept our turnovers down to just the 4 but the missed goaling opportunities (7) meant that we couldn’t push ahead.
Our defensive pressure was outstanding. We had 9 deflections, 4 gains, 6 intercepts and 2 rebounds. That’s 12 clean recoveries and 9 deflections. A total of 21 balls were won. We certainly were making our intention clear but struggling to finish off. We went into quarter time 9 all.
Due to shooting inaccuracy, I made a change and put Eliza in GS, all other positions remained. Something went astray because we turned over 11 balls in just 12 minutes. We starved ourselves of ball and the supply to our goalers dried up. We only shot 5 from 8 attempts, not enough to win the quarter.
Our defence remained on point. Demi had 2 gains, 1 to Demi Y, 3 intercepts and gain from Dels, 2 intercepts and a gain from Bella and a rebound from our last line of defence Aleigha. 11 clear recoveries but we threw away 11 balls and missed 3 shots. Lancefield had too many opportunities to score and we were trailing 14 -17.
After a talking to we cleaned right up. We threw away just the 4 balls and the supply to our goalers was back on track. Eliza and Georgia converted 10 from 11 attempts finishing with the last goal of the quarter.
Georgia H came on into WD and Dels went back into GK in an attempt to starve their GS of the ball. We were heavily penalised in GK with 5 contacts and unsure whether the change was having the effect we wanted it to have. Lancefield shot 9 from 13 attempts and we were still trailing 24 -26.
The last quarter did not go to plan at all. Although we shot the first 2 goals of the quarter and scared Lancefield for a second, Lancefield went on to shoot 6 goals in a row. We were back chasing. We replied with 5 goals in a row, but just threw away very hard-fought ball again. 10 turnovers were not going to win us the game. We struggled all over the court to find connections and penetrate our goal third when we were under pressure. We only shot 7 from 9 attempts.
The take away from this game is to put the foot down when we have a lead and recognise a shift in the game and change what isn’t working and keep doing what is working. We went down by 8 goals.
