UCL gives King's a crash course in how to play netball
JAMAL RIZVI HEADS TO THE NETBALL MATCH BETWEEN UCL AND KCL
As the match began, UCL dominated but KCL managed to keep in touch. The scoreboard flicked backwards and forwards, as if we were in some cheesy American high school drama. 2-0… 2-2… 3-2… 3-3… 4-3… 4-4. We were a bit worried. After all, this was a big match for Varsity in general. UCL had begun the day 7-3 down in overall matches won but, courtesy of Volleyball and Basketball, we were now much closer at 8-6. This day would prove to be the turning point of UCL’s Varsity campaign. This day was the start of our comeback.
The first quarter ended 11-5. The second quarter ended 19-8, and during half-time we spoke to UCL’s youngest supporter, sister of Katie Sanderson, saying: “‘let’s go UC! We are definitely going to win. I’m sure. Even I’m better than King’s, and I’m 11. King’s haven’t even got 11 goals yet.” She spoke wise words, as it didn’t get any better for King’s. The third quarter ended 31-12. And the final quarter ended 41-16. The KCL team must have appreciated this absolute spectacular tutorial in how to play Netball. Who needs a coach when you can learn just from watching the UCL women play?
New kid on the block, first year Saskia Tonge, proved outstanding, netting over thirty shots. Thank God Saskia discarded King’s when applying for university, it could have been a very different story if she went to KCL.
But it wasn’t just Saskia who won us the match. It was a team effort. As I found out yesterday, half of the team is physically not able to score goals – there’s some silly rule about the court being cordoned off into thirds, and people only being allowed to stay in their ‘section’. Centre, Wing Attack and Goal Attack had free flowing passes and their movement and interchanges left King’s for dead. The fact that we only conceded 16 goals is a tribute to our defensive qualities. The anticipation of where the ball was going to go from Goal Keeper led to interception after interception, and Goal Defence stuck to KCL’s Goal Attack like that annoying piece of gum on the bottom of your shoe. They had no chance.
The King’s support, it has to be said, was admirable. The turnout was impressive – from the crowd not the KCL netball team – and the crappy Lion was at it again (shown below, rather depressed, at the end of the match). Even Frostie’s Tony the Tiger would have struggled to keep up his ‘GRRRREAT’ optimism.
The best way to epitomise this game is that after about half way through it actually got to the stage where KCL fans were not cheering when KCL scored, but when they just completed a pass. The King’s half of the hall reeked of desperation, and also shame. Our supporters on the other hand almost got bored of cheering for every goal that went in. All in all, a very successful evening, and one that all the girls should be proud of.
Image credits: Jamal Rizvi
Line up: GS Saskia Tonge, GA Katie Sanderson, WA leila Alayej, C Louise Gwilliam, WD Marie Claire Healey, GD Caroline Jeffery, GK Tilly barker, Izzie Greer (came on at WD).