Gameface

Around the Courts: Division 2 Preliminary Finals

By Stephanie Smarrelli

A Grade

Langwarrin will take on Crib Point for the A grade premiership after defeating Seaford by four goals on Saturday afternoon.

Although Langwarrin led throughout the entire match, Seaford never gave up pushing the Kangaroos until the final whistle.

Defensively Langwarrin were switched on from the get-go with wing defence Jayde Travers blocking her opponents’ drives towards the ball while goal defence Emily Zeuschner and goal keeper Jayde Aron stuck tight to their opponents to cause a held ball in the opening minutes of play.

Seaford centre Rachel Cosans had some strong drives early, however, the defensive pressure from Langwarrin turned over ball after ball and allowed their attackers to shine.

Kangaroos’ shooters Brooke Kiely and Emily Bennet combined in the first quarter for a 14-goal haul in comparison to Seaford’s six.

The Tigers pounced in the second quarter, with centre Alesina Toleafoa taking a strong intercept in their defensive third which was set up by her teammates blocking all options for Langwarrin.

Quickly transitioning from defence into attack Seaford showed why they had been one of the top teams this season with shooters Sinead Lumsden, Ashleigh Mitchener and Nichelle Liepa working well together to create room for each other to cut and drive.

At the end of the quarter, the Tigers had trimmed the margin between the two sides back to only five goals.

A close third quarter saw Langwarrin regain some of their composure, however, Seaford won their second quarter in a row.

The Kangaroos were impressive in defence with centre Travers deflecting the ball early in the quarter on the circle edge to goal defence Zeuschner, however, Langwarrin were unable to capitalise with a rushed pass further down the court undoing the hard work.

Multiple times during the third quarter, Langwarrin let go of opportunities as Seaford continued to turn up the defensive pressure across the court. Wing attack Tayla Robertson started to come into the match for the Tigers with her swift movement across the court hard for the Langwarrin defenders to shut down, Robertson also was quick to switch from attack into defence, deflecting one turnover back the way of her teammates,

However, Langwarrin’s shooters continued to shoot accurately with ball in hand once they were given the opportunities. Goal shooter Kiely slotted all of her goal attempts for the quarter and kept her side from fading away while Seaford’s Lumsden did the same down the other end.

With only four goals separating the two sides at the start of the final quarter, the Kangaroos and Tigers went blow for blow until the final whistle.

The fourth quarter was frantic as Seaford fought hard to try to tip the match in their favour, however, Langwarrin worked just as hard to keep the win from slipping between their fingers.

Seaford had the first centre pass and if they scored from it they would have been only one turnover away from winning the match, however, Kangaroos’ goal keeper Aron stood up, coming off her opponent for a strong intercept which led Langwarrin to another goal.

Langwarrin slipped up a few times throughout the final quarter, giving Seaford opportunity after opportunity to score, however, the wealth of work each Langwarrin player then did to win ball back stopped Seaford from doing much damage.

The score-line got to within a couple of goals at one point, however, a big deflection in the dying minutes from Langwarrin goal defence Zeuschner to wing defence Travers resulted in a Kangaroos’ goal. In scoring from that turnover, Langwarrin stopped Seaford from scoring an important goal that would have kept them in the match as the clock ticked down.

Speaking to Emily Bennet after the match she said it felt amazing to secure themselves a spot in the grand final

“It felt amazing, it was really nerve-racking we didn’t make the grand final last year so it’s a huge step up for our club,” Bennet said.

Teammate Jayde Aron said she’s looking forward to the grand final and believes Langwarrin can win the premiership against Crib Point.

“I think, they’re a great team but we’ve definitely got what it takes and I’m excited to play next week,” Aron said.

B Grade

Somerville will go head-to-head with Karingal in the B grade grand final after defeating Langwarrin by 14 goals in the preliminary final.

The Eagles came out firing with centre Jade Finn taking an intercept off Langwarrin’s first centre pass. Error after error from the Kangaroos resulted in Somerville shooters Madeline Roberts and Courtney Gilmour having 23 scoring opportunities to Langwarrin’s six in the first quarter. Although their accuracy was under half the immense amount of pressure put over the ball from their teammates ensured Langwarrin only scored one goal in the first quarter to their 10.

There were some good passages of play in the second quarter from Langwarrin with wing defence Zoe Zeuschner intercepting the ball in their defensive third and sending it towards their attacking end, however, one rushed pass turned the ball back over stopping the Kangaroos from capitalising.

Somerville defenders Amy Olston and Kristy Marshall worked well together deflecting passes into the Langwarrin shooting circle and directed play out in front of them.

While in attack, Roberts and Gilmour continued to hold strong in the goal circle for Somerville and their accuracy improved in the second quarter as the Eagles simply outplayed their opponents.

Leading by 11 goals at halftime, Somerville put in another strong performance in the third quarter, however, Langwarrin upped their defensive pressure.

The Kangaroos did well in the third quarter, to slow Somerville’s transition from defence into attack with Amanda Le Marshall, Zeuschner, Madison Fulton, Sarah Johnston and Rebecca Mitchell clogging up the midcourt and sticking tight to their opponents causing multiple held balls in the centre third.

In defence, Kangaroos goal keeper Rania Waller was also good as her quick footwork caused the Somerville feeders to take all three seconds to feed into the circle.

15 goals separated the teams at the end of the third quarter, however, the match felt closer in the last quarter.

Langwarrin won the final quarter by a goal, scoring from Somerville’s first centre pass as the Eagles dropped their intensity a bit.

The Kangaroos kept tight and challenged every loose ball in the final quarter while strong drives to the circle edge created easy shooting opportunities.

Somerville continued to work the ball into the shooting circle well with centre Finn driving hard to the edge and feeding with pinpoint accuracy.

The combined effort from Somerville across the court in the first quarter is what set them up for the win and will be something they’ll need to replicate next week against an undefeated Karingal.

Speaking with Somerville’s Amy Olston after the match she mentioned how in their last meeting with Langwarrin the team turned on each other a bit and how she was happy with the positivity they showed out on court during the match.

“Today the key focus was to play our game, be respectful to each other, to the other team and the umpires as well and I think we did that today it was a really positive game for us. Still a couple of things we need to work on next week to defeat Karingal, we obviously haven’t beaten them throughout the season so hard training sesh this week,” Olston said.

Somerville’s Madeline Roberts also echoed her teammate and said she’s a little nervous but believes they can play competitively against Karingal.

“If we play our game we should be able to compete with them really well,” Roberts said.

C Grade

Red Hill will go up against an undefeated Karingal in the C grade grand final after defeating Chelsea by 22 goals in the preliminary final.

Red Hill showed promising signs early with a strong intercept from centre Lucy Hamill and deflections from goal keeper Chloe-Rose Hunt slowing Chelsea’s attack, however, the Seagulls were better in the first quarter.

Chelsea’s Rebecca Cameron and Kayla Owens were quick in the goal circle to score while Red Hill were unable to capitalise off their goal attempts early.

Chelsea’s defensive pressure in the midcourt stunted movement from Red Hill as they looked to transition into their attacking third and resulted in held balls and passes being made at the last second.

Three goals down at the end of the first quarter, Red Hill came out all guns blazing in the second.

An intercept from Red Hill goal defence Emille Baird set the tone for the quarter as Red Hill then swiftly transitioned into attack with goal attack Abbie King then confidently slotting a long bomb.

Chelsea wing attack Hannah Mcnamara and centre Hayley Caling were good on the circle edge feeding into the circle, however, Chelsea’s accuracy under the ring was off this quarter only scoring three goals from 14 attempts, while Red Hill scored eight from 11.

Making the most of the opportunities, Red Hill collected the rebounds with even centre Rhiannon Morgan picking up a ball from a Seagulls’ missed goal after the shooters failed to follow the shot in.

By the end of the quarter, Red Hill had undone Chelsea’s work in the first quarter to find themselves up at the halftime break by two goals.

Backing up their second-quarter performance in the third, Red Hill continued to streak ahead scoring 14 goals to six in the third term.

Mikayla Leyonhjelm was clinical in the goal circle for Red Hill driving hard and only missing two goals for the quarter from her 13 attempts. While defensively her teammates continued to deflect loose balls and throw off feeds into the circle.

Nine goals up at three-quarter time and Red Hill were truly in control of the match.

Opening the final quarter with the centre pass in their favour Chelsea were unable to score with Red Hill’s Baird intercepting and wing attack Annie Cumming losing her opponent and driving hard to the circle edge for the feed into Leyonhjelm who slotted one of her 11 goals for the quarter.

Chelsea were able to turn over the ball with a few of Red Hill’s passing missing their connections through the court as the match wore on, however, they were unable to capitalise with Red Hill then applying hands-over pressure to stop them from moving into attack.

Red Hill wing defence Jessie Farquharson was particularly good at apply pressure and cutting off drives from the Seagulls’ midcourt which helped limit Chelsea to only two goals in the final quarter as Red Hill charged into the grand final.

Speaking with Red Hill’s Abbie King after the match she said they weren’t worried about being down at quarter-time.

“Our first quarter’s our worst quarter every game so we just wanted to keep our intensity up in the first quarter and we know after that we can generally keep pushing harder and play better so we just kept going as hard as we can,” King said.

King commended her entire team on their effort throughout the match and goal shooter Mikayla Leyonhjelm in particular, who scored 37 of the team’s 47 goals.

“Our whole team was really good today, our defenders did such an awesome job against their shooters cause they’re very accurate shooters and Mikayla shooting was an absolute gun she just killed it,” she said.

Looking towards the grand final she said they know they still have room for improvement.

“We definitely need to improve on knowing where we are and will have to play as a team because Karingal’s so strong in knowing where they all are on court and playing as a team so we’ll have to come out firing and train hard,” King said.

D Grade

Chelsea booked themselves a grand final appearance against Karingal in D grade after defeating Red Hill by 15 goals in Saturday morning’s preliminary final.

It was close in the opening minutes of the match with the sides going goal-for-goal until Chelsea broke free making of a missed Red Hill goal with goal defence Megan Thomas stealing the rebound and sending the towards goal attack Kate Webster who finished off the hard work in defence.

A few minutes later Chelsea goal keeper Alexandra Wendt launched herself at the ball, intercepting it in Red Hill’s goal circle which then allowed goal shooter Georgia Holland to slot another goal for the Seagulls.

Defensively Red Hill were close on a few occasions in the first quarter with deflections from wing defence Lucy Newman and goal defence Saskia Kalkbrenner slowing Chelsea’s passes into the goal circle.

Four goals up at the end of the first quarter, the Seagulls continued to capitalise in the second quarter.

The defensive pressure went up a notch as Chelsea kept Red Hill to a match low of only four goals while scoring 13 themselves.

A bad feed into the circle off their first centre pass could’ve hurt Chelsea, however, their attackers switched instantly into defensive mode and caused a held ball in their attacking third to settle and score.

Chelsea WA Kyraa Leigh was instrumental with quick footwork and strong drives making it hard for Red Hill to stop her from providing options and feeding into the circle.

Seagulls Wendt and Thomas continued to cause headaches for Red Hill as they stole possession after possession from their opponents with the help of wing defence Chelsea Johnson and centre Breanna Locastro who slowed Red Hill as they tried to transition between the midcourt and their attacking third.

13 goals separated the two teams at halftime and the match continued to go in favour of the Seagulls with a stray pass messing up Red Hill’s first centre pass.

Some good defensive work from Red Hill defenders Kalkbrenner and goal defence Hailey Reid went unrewarded as Red Hill fell into the trap of rushing their passes while trying to play catch up.

While Chelsea’s attackers continued to treasure each ball their defensive end turned over with shooters Holland and Daele Tyler slotting goal after goal.

15 goals up at the final break, the Seagulls lost some of their momentum in the final quarter with Red Hill scoring an equal eight goals with them for the term.

Despite the deficit, Red Hill worked hard in the final quarter to stop the margin from growing larger.

Red Hill Shooters Karina Holmes and Ashleigh Gledhill were clinical with both players shooting at 100 per cent for the quarter, rewarding their strong drives and holds in the final term while midcourters Bronte Robb and Samantha Swift ensured the feeds in were to their advantage.

Speaking after the match Chelsea’s Georgia Holland said she was looking forward to playing together again next week and putting together what they’ve worked on all year and wasn’t worried about going up against minor premiers Karingal.

“I think going in as an underdog is pretty good, there’s not much pressure and we know we can probably beat them and grand final you never know what’s going to happen so I’m excited,” Holland said.

Under 17s

The Seagulls will do battle with Seaford in the Under 17s grand final after defeating Red Hill in this weekend’s prelim by 11 goals.

An even first quarter saw both teams work the ball into their shooting circle and score 11 goals each. Chelsea goal shooter Abby Williams shot 10 of the goals while GA Mackenzie Eardley slotted seven her sides’ in the first.

The second quarter was another fairly even quarter with the defensive efforts from both teams making it the lowest scoring of the match. However, Chelsea slightly edged ahead of Red Hill taking a one-goal lead into halftime.

In the third quarter, the Seagulls started to gain some more momentum, turning over the ball and scoring to push Red Hill behind by three at three-quarter time.

Defensively Chelsea upped the ante in the last quarter scoring 14 goals to 6 by making the most of every opportunity and creating turnovers.