“We will go all out, blood, sweat and tears and if bleed we will bleed pink.”
It was a week of mixed emotions for NTU netball with three incredible wins on Wednesday and one devastating loss.
First team:
Ones travelled all the way to Newcastle where they played in another successful round in the cup.
The game started with Newcastle taking the lead and were soon up by six points. However, Trent pushed through to end the quarter with a two-goal lead.
Throughout the game Trent kept developing a lead but then Newcastle fought back and narrowed the gap which put pressure on the match.
In the second quarter, Centre, Sophie Little went down on her ankle and she had to be taken off, Freya Wood was very unwell throughout the game and Susie Armstrong, GD was issued with a caution for intimidation.
There was trouble with the umpires and a lot of shouting from the side lines, however throughout it all the girls on the court kept their focus. After some inspiring team talks from captain, Susie, and incredible play from everyone, the girls came away with a very well-deserved win.
The score was 45 – 39 to Trent, putting them in a good position for when they face University of Nottingham next week.
Second team:
Twos found their groove this week when they travelled away to De Montfort University and couldn’t have been happier with the result.
From the get-go, the girls gained a strong lead. This was a refreshing start for the Twos as they have been frustrated with their play and the results of games over the last few months. But it can no longer be denied that the pink ladies are now a force to be reckoned with.
The Twos led throughout the whole game. There was a slight slip up mid-match as they lost a bit of their momentum and found the score narrowing.
Nevertheless, they pulled through and smashed it with the end result of 60 – 19 to Trent twos.
Player of the match went to GK and Captain Emma Cartwright.
“We really got our mojo back this week. I can’t wait to face the top of the league, University of Leicester for our last game of the season.” Hannah Hughes, second team WA and NTU Netball President
Third team:
It wasn’t such a success story for the third team as their game left them vulnerable to losing their league title position.
It was shaky from the start as Lincoln, who were the home team, developed a lead straight away. At the end of the first quarter Lincoln were ahead by a goal.
Thirds were taken aback as Lincoln were bottom of the league, so they didn’t expect to be facing such a strong team.
Changes were made for the second quarter in the hope that this would change things, however, this wasn’t the case as Lincoln were proving they weren’t going to give up easily.
At half time the score was 23-21 to Lincoln. Although Thirds weren’t winning they thought there was still time to change this.
However, disaster struck as the third quarter was even more of a struggle and Lincoln managed to pull ahead by ten goals.
Heads were down and Thirds were just not themselves. Olivia Stephens came on as GS for the last quarter, making a huge difference in the shooting D however it just wasn’t enough.
The very deflated threes lost their game 46-40 to Lincoln, meaning they may no longer win their league.
Players of the match went to Madi Reynolds and Yasmine Gallifant.
Fourth Team:
It was a very different story for Trent Fours as they had a blinder of a game, securing their spot at the top of the league table.
Fours won with a crazy goal difference of 87-5.
“I couldn’t be happier, we smashed it.” Hollie Lambert, fourth team captain and player of the match
By Esther Roberts