Macedon 43 DEF Romsey 38
Macedon did not get out to a very good start against Romsey. 2 coach killers and inaccurate shooting was making it very hard to go head-to-head with Romsey. Walls were being directly fed into the goalers but the finishing off was quickly becoming a problem. Defensively Macedon started
with Alex and Katie but a change was called after Romsey started to easily fond their GS and they were scoring in runs of 3’s. Karlee in centre read the play well with 2 tips and a gain and that was supported out back by Katie in GD. Alex was getting a lot of touches to the ball but they were not resulting in gains for Macedon, so a positional change was made. Macedon trailed 7 -12 in the first quarter.
The changes made towards the end of the first quarter, were kept and Macedon started with Taylah and Katie out the back. Macedon attack end began to find a flow and with a few positional changes
from Romsey, Macedon capitalised on these changes and moved the ball well to the front presenting player. Confidence was growing and so were the opportunities for Macedon. Chloe and Ciara started to combine and move in the circle much better and as a result Karlee and Chelsea hand more options on the feed. Chloe found the bounce on the Romsey ring and shot with accuracy, missing just the one.
Defenders were incredible in the second with 3 collective intercepts, 5 gains and 3 tips. It was the work of these players that gave Macedon the 7 goals to 1 start in the 2nd quarter. The Romsey goalers started to share the load of shooting but were deprived of the ball with the intense man on man pressure. Macedon won this quarter 15 -10 and there was just the one goal splitting the teams heading into half time.
All 7 players remained for the 3 rd quarter as the attackers were finding a rhythm and the defensive unit were starting to combine well. Macedon were a lot more clinical with the ball and the turnovers came out of the defensive end. With keeping possession, the priority, Macedon made sure they broke the line defence on centre passes and worked the ball with short sharp movements. Chloe had a lot of space with a non-moving keeper and she used that to her advantage. Ciara became a feeding player, leaving the ring open for one-on-one movement and the goals just racked up.
Defensively Macedon were a little quiet with recoveries, grinding the opposition down with relentless man on man pressure and forcing Romsey to make mistakes. Macedon had just the 3 gains, 2 intercepts and 4 tips. This slowed down Romsey and put a lot of pressure on the goalers. 11 goals to 9 and the score was just the one goal difference. 32 -32.
The last quarter was very messy, with Romsey playing an extremely physical defence. They played the space, a zone and then one on one in the ring. This made transitioning the ball out of defence difficult and reading the dummy attacking drive became a problem. There were 6 bad passes, a fumble and an attacking contact. Things that will be addressed at training by Macedon but aren’t too concerning because this quarter is where Macedon stretched the lead out. Ciara remained a feeder but was running out of legs, so after a 4 goal run for Macedon, the change was made with Hetty taking the court after several weeks off injured and she offered a tall target and finished shooting 4 from 7 attempts.
The defenders were very tidy and when Romsey changed the goal shooters, Katie’s confidence grew as she was on a very familiar opponent. Katie cleaned up with 3 gains, 3 intercepts and 1 rebound in just 15 minutes and should be commended on an outstanding defensive last quarter. Taylah and Alex chipped away, recovering 3 balls and in the C position Karlee, who had no bench time had an intercept and a rebound. The opportunities came from this defence and Macedon shot 4 goals to Romsey’s 1 to take the game out 43 – 38.
Macedon are certainly back on the winners list.
Votes: Katie Clarke
8 gains 6 intercepts 6 tips 3 rebounds
