Eagles put up a good fight in their first encounter with an U16 A team
EAGLES 19 - 49 FINCH BLACK
Wellington 15.09.2019

Eagles went into this match knowing it would be difficult. This is Finch’s A team and the 2 year age difference shows, in height, speed and aggression.

Q1  started with a quick goal to Finch within the first minute although this was quickly matched by a goal from Lottie for Eagles.  Great interception from Keira against a very tough opposition.  Finch soon picked up the pace and scored a number of goals in succession.  Eagles managed to get the ball up the court but were unable to get it in the net due to a very tight defence and marking from Finch.  Eagles kept up the pressure scoring 4 goals but weren’t able to stop Finch scoring 11.  Score at end of first quarter 11-4 to Finch.

Q2 was much the same with 3 quick goals from Finch to start.  There was some good passing from Kiera to Amelia and Izzy into the D to allow 2 quick goals from Grace followed by Sophia.  Eagles kept up the pressure against a tough team with great play from Georgia to Kiera to Izzy but Finch made some excellent interceptions to get the ball into their end of the court. There were some great interceptions from Georgia and Sophie too. Finch were in control by the end of the second quarter 21-6.

In Q3 Eagles stepped up their game and played a better quarter keeping the ball towards their end of the court with some great interceptions from Sophia and Keira.  Although when Finch got the ball it was quick play to score a succession of goals.  Some good marking from Nya to allow for some turnovers, and when Amelia and Izzy were able to get the ball into the D some good shooting from Sophie and Lottie doubling the Eagles score to end the quarter 34-12 Finch.

Some quick goals from Finch again at the start of Q4 but some great passing between Amelia, Lottie and Sophie and some good interceptions from Sophia.  Eagles kept up the defence but made some silly mistakes as fatigue started to show.  Some excellent interceptions from Nya to get the ball quickly down the court and good defence from Georgia and Sophia but they were unable to get through the Finch defence.  Much better play from Eagles for the second half of the game, increasing the score by 7 with much better shooting stats in this final quarter, Grace lining 3 out of 4 and Sophie 4 out of 5.  Final score 49-19 to Finch.

Eagles worked really hard and applied a lot of pressure during the game, creating some well deserved turnovers.  This first encounter with an U16 A team was always going to be tough; the girls gave a good account of themselves and have demonstrated that they can compete at this level.
Next time they won’t be overwhelmed in the first half…they are learning lots. Player of the match went deservedly to Keira.

Squad:
Amelia, Lottie, Georgia, Grace, Izzy, Keira, Nya, Sophia (D) and Sophie

Shooting Stats: Grace 50%, Lottie 75%, Sophie 73%.