Newcastle 53 v 37 Elmdon

Newcastle continued their winning ways on Sunday as they took on Elmdon in the U19’s regional league match.

Newcastle went into the match as favorites having won all but 1 of their previous games in the newly established league.

Coach Jeanette Pointon had a depleted squad to choose from as Rosie Mathews was unavailable for selection.

Pointon went with her established shooters and defense but made some subtle changes in the center court.

The defensive trio of Georgia Reade, Lucy Le Page and Alex Boughey all started the game brightly and were making key interceptions as they made life difficult for the Elmdon shooters. The Newcastle shooters were also in sparkling form and converted over 95% of their shoots during the game ensuring that Elmdon never really got a grip of the game. A spirited 3rd quarter from the Eldon team brought them to with in 6 goals of the Newcastle outfit but some fine conversions from Lauren Beresford and Sophie Stone managed to settled the Newcastle squad and they pulled away during the 4th quarter.

Coach Pointon said after the game ’ We were really hopeful of taking the win before the game but we haven’t played Elmdon before and were not sure what to expect. They certainly turned up with a good game plan and it was not as easy a game as perhaps the score may suggest. They were a really good team and we had to play at our best to keep the pressure on all through the game. Excellent shootings stats were backed up by some clean defending and excellent linking play from the center court. This is the first season for the U19’s league and I think it has been a success for all concerned. We are waiting on some other results to see if we have won the league which would be a great achievement for the squad’