Netball 1sts demolish city rivals

After York’s impressive victory over Bradford 2nds last Wednesday, they were determined to continue this victorious streak in the second round of the BUCS cup. York’s 1sts were up against a York St John 2nd team who were in a higher league than their previous opponents, but lower placed than York themselves. In spite of York clearly being a higher standard than this York St John’s team, they played their own game and did not let their standard of play drop, coming out with a 76-26 result. This was in contrast to York’s 2nd team, who met a more evenly matched Newcastle Fourths. Despite this, they too were triumphant, with a 38-33 win.

The first quarter consisted of high quality shooting and vigorous defending from the York team. Kay Masterson, once again, stood out due to her consistent shooting from all areas of the York St John D. In the York D, good communication and persistent interceptions by Georgia Neblett and Lottie Knight led to the York St John team scoring a meagre two goals at the end of the first quarter. However, York St John put up a convincing fight in the second quarter. York, at times, struggled to feed balls into the D, as York St John’s Goal Keeper was reading the over heads and challenging for them. Despite this, the second half of this quarter led to short sharp passes down the court and into the D which kept York at a comfortable 43-11 lead.

The third quarter definitely stood out as a great defensive quarter for York. Multiple interceptions from Charlotte Ferris led to a number of York St John’s centres being overturned. Furthermore, Lottie Knight excelled in the York defensive D with a number of spectacular interceptions, which clearly unsettled the York St John shooters. Acknowledgement must be given to Georgia Neblett, who, despite normally playing shooter has performed exceptionally well, standing in as Goal Defence for an injured Nina Pullman. The most notable improvement in this game was the co-operation between the defence, which led to good quality team work.

A number of set plays from York in the fourth quarter led to the ball flowing through the court. Most notably, the overturn of a York St John backline from Goal Shooter, Kay Masterson, demonstrated York’s unrelenting work ethic throughout the game. York continued to notch up the score with both easy and far out shots, leading to another impressive 76-26 win for York. Captain, Rebecca O’ Dwyer, was ‘extremely happy’ with both her team and the York Seconds team’s performance. She continued, ‘We hope to do very well in this competition, and hopefully get down to the final few teams’.

Man of the Match: Charlotte Ferris

GS Kay Masterson
GA Lisa Griffiths
WA Bronwen Dalley-Smith
C Rebecca O ‘Dwyer
WD Charlotte Ferris
GD Georgia Neblett
GK Lottie Knight